The Cat
by AFineMess101
Summary: What if Catwoman had a daughter? That what-if is named Arabella Williams and she's here to kick ass with the rest of her team. Follows the plot of S1 and then it deviates some.
1. Prologue

**GOTHAM**

 _ **September 27, 2006, 00:08 EST**_

* * *

Landing solidly on the other side of the apartment block, Robin's gaze shifted to his mentor, unable to stamp down a twinge of nervousness, "how was that?"

Batman gave him a solid nod, "you're getting better with a grappling hook."

His nervousness subsided easily and a self-satisfied smirk graced his face again, falling away quickly as a gunshot rang out in the dark, followed by a scream and a second shot. Pivoting towards where the sound had come from, he turned back to Batman, "that sounded like a girl."

Bruce nodded grimly, "you take the rooftops, I'll take the streets. Use the comms if you find anything and don't go running into something if I'm not there."

Firing off his grappling hook again, he rolled his eyes, "yeah yeah, I'll be careful."

The wind whistled past his ears as the grappling hook pulled him up into the air, rolling into a crouch on top of the roof. Surveying the roof to make sure he was alone, he started running towards where the scream had come from. He was so focused on what could have happened, he almost missed the giant blood spatter just barely visible through an apartment window.

Stopping dead, he backtracked a few steps. Giant was admittedly a bit of an exaggeration, the actual spatter couldn't have been bigger than six inches in diameter. Running and leaping forward towards the fire escape the window was attached to, he hauled himself up with ease, immediately recoiling when he saw that there was more blood on the railing. Peeking his head in through the window, he saw a large, middle-aged man with a beer belly slumped on the floor, lifeless eyes staring at nothing. He still had a gun clutched in his right hand, and he was still bleeding from a sizeable hole in his head.

Choking down the urge to vomit, Robin shifted his eyes to the rest of the room, taking note of a small pool of blood on the other side of the room. Little droplets lead to the window he was perched on and slowly all the pieces clicked into place. Pressing down on the comm in his ear he started tracking the blood trail, "Batman, there's a dead man in the third apartment block down from the corner of 56th and Radforth, it looks like he was trying to kill someone else, I'm tracking the other person now."

Bruce's voice crackled in his ear, "don't approach the situation until I get there."

"And if it's that girl who screamed? And she needs help?" Dick shot back, picking up his pace as he rounded an alley corner.

"If it's just her, fine, but if there are other people wait for me, do I make myself understood?"

He elected not to answer, curling into the shadows as the sound of ragged breathing came from the next alley over. Nearing the noise cautiously, he saw a small girl who looked to be about his age bent over, one hand pressed to her lower stomach and the other braced against the alley wall as she dragged herself somewhere. There was a large bloodstain blooming across her midsection, but the worn white tank-top she was wearing could be making it look worse than it was. Stepping forward slowly in an attempt not to frighten her, he announced his presence with a quiet, "are you okay?"

She jumped, flipping so her back was facing the alley wall. As she took in his appearance her fear seemed to settle into an uncomfortable tension keeping her muscles drawn tight. Her eyes narrowed "does it _look_ like I'm okay?"

He came closer, "okay, I walked into that one, what happened to you?"

"I got shot," she said flatly, regarding his movements like someone who was used to being in danger.

He had no idea how to make himself seem non-threatening, and instead he opted to examine the cut on her temple, bleeding down her face and nearly blending into the dark red of her hair, a tangled curly mess around her shoulders. "What happened here?"

"Cracked over the head with a beer bottle, are you done with the third degree now or what?"

He backed off a little, "I'm Robin, I'm-"

"Batman's brand new partner, I know." She said, "Rick and his buddies never shut up about the two of you, apparently you're a real inconvenience for the gangs of Gotham."

He frowned a little, "is Rick the one who shot you? The dead guy?"

She nodded, looking down at her stomach, "he's my foster father." Hissing softly as she pulled her hand away to examine the wound, she immediately went back to applying pressure, "now if you'll excuse me, I have to get this taken care of."

She started walking again and he grabbed her by the arms to hold her in place as softly as he could, "whoa, hold on for minute. That's a spinal cord injury just waiting to happen."

"I think I'll take the spinal cord injury over bleeding out. Or being here when Andrei arrives."

"You don't have an exit wound," he said, trying to use the same calm, commanding tone Bruce used on people in shock, "the more you move the more likely it is that the bullet it going to move around inside your body and make your injury worse, or pierce something fatal."

She raised an eyebrow, "is gunshot first aid something they teach you in vigilante school?"

He narrowed his eyes, "we need to take you to the hospital."

* * *

So today was a pretty bad day. Maybe not the worst day, but not a lot of things topped getting shot by your foster father, watching him shoot himself, and then dragging yourself down a couple flights of a fire escape and into a dirty alley. Now I had a wannabe superhero not letting me leave and talking about taking me to a hospital. I shook my head, "thanks for the offer Little Boy Blue, but I think I'll be just fine on my own. Now run off and go punch a mugger in the face or something."

His eyes narrowed, "do you want to bleed out? You need surgery and a blood transfusion."

"I know a guy, he was a medic in the Vietnam War. He'll patch me up, I'll be on my merry way."

"What do you have against hospitals?" He shot back, coming to stand in front of me.

I rolled my eyes, "shot by my foster father remember? Hospitals mean the government and the government means foster care. I don't exactly have the best track record with homes, given what this guy was like the next one'll be into virgin sacrifice."

I tried to keep walking and a wave of dizziness and the worst pain I'd ever felt in my life hit me like a transport truck. Stumbling, I hissed when Robin reached to hold me up. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could speak there was the softest of thumps and Batman himself landed in the alley next to us. I nodded towards him, "can you get this idiot off of me?"

Previously mentioned idiot scoffed, "did you want to land face-first in a dirty alley?"

Batman just narrowed his eyes, "what happened here?"

Robin started explaining for me, something that usually would have pissed me off but all I could really manage right now was a weak glare. My eyelids had never felt so heavy and all I wanted was a nap. Carla's voice rang in my head, ' _if you get shot, don't close your eyes. Ever. Keep going until you get somewhere safe_.' So I forced myself awake, and when I did both the caped crusaders were staring at me in concern.

Before I could really say anything Batman had scooped me up, carrying me bridal-style down the alley. I didn't know where we were going, and the sound of the two of them talking had faded to a quiet hum. My ear was pressed against Batman's chest, and I found the rhythmic sound of his heartbeat comforting. We stayed like that for a while, and eventually I felt smooth leather underneath me instead of arms. Rolling my head to the side, I noted that I was lying in the back of a strange car. The gentle hum of the practically silent engine filled my ears and I suppressed the urge to fall asleep.

A hand tapped my cheek, and when I turned towards it Robin was sitting in the back with me. "You gotta stay awake, let's play a game."

"Like what? Twenty questions?" I snarked.

"That could actually work," he said, pressing his hand over my stomach to apply pressure, making me hiss in pain, "sorry. Anyway, I can't say anything identity-wise but normal questions are a go."

"Seems fair," I said, "you start."

"What's your name?"

I frowned, wondering how he'd answer it, "Arabella, but most people give me a nickname. Never Bella though. You?"

"Robin, or the Boy Wonder if you prefer," he said cheekily, "why not Bella?"

"I'm counting that as one of your questions, because I hate Twilight for one, and because someone I knew once called me that. Why's your name Robin?"

I seemed to have struck a nerve, "someone I knew once called me that too. Favourite colour?"

I opened my mouth to say green, but as the car hit a bump his mask shifted ever so slightly, revealing bright blue eyes like I had never seen and I found that I was saying that instead, "blue, you?"

"Black, favourite season?"

"One, black's a shade not a colour, and fall, what's yours?"

"Winter, black is totally a colour and no one can tell me otherwise. What's your favourite song?"

I blinked, "I don't really have one."

He looked scandalized, "you don't have a favourite song?"

"I don't really listen to music," I deadpanned.

"You've never heard a song, ever, that you liked?"

I paused, the faintest memory of soft piano running through my mind, "I don't know the name of it."

"Hum it," he encouraged, and I huffed but hummed the first few seconds of it.

Batman cut in, "it's called Clair de Lune, it's by Claude Debussy. He was a French composer in the late eighteen-hundreds, early nineteen-hundreds."

I almost wanted to snap at him for telling me a piece of totally useless information, but it didn't feel useless. It felt like he had given me something. I turned to Robin, "what's your favourite song then, Little Boy Blue?"

"Paint it Black, by The Rolling Stones. Why do you call me that?"

"What," I said with a frown, "Little Boy Blue? Robin, robin's egg blue, and you're a little boy."

"I'm _not_ a little boy!" he said, clearly offended.

I narrowed my eyes, "most people would consider me a little girl, and you couldn't be much older than I am."

He looked ridiculously sullen, and the car suddenly slowed to a stop. He had kept me awake the whole ride here, and while I doubted this car was slow, from the clean, modern look of the hospital as Batman lifted me back out of the car we couldn't have been anywhere near the Park Row area where they'd found me. The tiredness seeped back into my bones as soon as he started carrying me again, and as we approached the double doors of the ER I felt my eyes drift closed. There was a lot of yelling and someone was rapidly questioning Batman, eventually turning a much more calm voice to me, "do you know your blood type sweetie?"

I cracked an eye open to see a middle-aged nurse with a clipboard looking back at me. I had no sweet clue. I had never needed a blood transfusion before, and it wasn't like I had a parent to remember that sort of information. As I shook my head she offered me a small smile, "that's alright sweetheart, we can just give you O-neg until you get a blood test done."

"B-positive," Robin said out of the blue, and twisting my neck to peer over Batman's shoulder I saw him staring at some kind of computer on his wrist. He looked up at the three of us, "I hacked her file with Social Work."

"Thank you young man," the nurse said, scribbling down something on her clipboard before turning back to me, "we're gonna take care of you right away." She turned towards a hallway on her right, "where is my gurney? We have a child bleeding to death over here!"

I let my eyes close again, deeming this a safe enough place to finally fall apart. In what could have been a few moments or a few minutes I was being lowered onto something soft and plastic-y. Then I was flying, and a mask was being fitted to my face and a man was instructing me to count down from ten. "Ten, nine, eight… seven… si-"

* * *

When I woke up I didn't open my eyes right away. There was a soft beeping to my left that I slowly realized was a heart monitor, and it felt like I had five million things connected to me. The room felt wrong, and I slowly cracked an eye open to see three figures in the shadows. The heart monitor started beeping faster and a singular question flew through my head, _howdidhefindmehowdidhefindmehowdidhefindme_.

The figures walked into the light and the first one my eyes latched onto was Robin, a panicked look on his face, arms held out to calm me, "stop freaking out!"

Behind him was Batman and a woman I hadn't seen before, dressed head to toe in a tight leather bodysuit, wearing a pair of orange tinted goggles. Her hands, I noted, had claws extending from each fingertip. I decided to address Robin, "you don't just randomly hide in the shadows watching someone sleep! I thought you were here to kill me!"

Batman spoke this time, "why would you think that?"

I narrowed my eyes, "no reason." There was no way I was breathing a word of any of this to them. If I wanted to survive for longer than five minutes on the streets it was in my best interest to shut up about Andrei and pray he'd just let me go.

He crossed his arms, "you're safe now, Arabella. You can speak to us."

I snorted, the plastic thingy in my nose shifting a little, "safe isn't an option when you live like I do, so sorry about it."

"And how do you live?" the woman asked, crossing the room to my bed.

I regarded her cautiously, "on the streets, like any helpless orphan. When you live in the seedy underworld you try not to make anyone in said seedy underworld angry."

She looked strange, sad almost, or disappointed? But it didn't look like it was directed at me so I was confused. She sat on the edge of my bed, "what's your birthday?"

I looked at her like she was a crazy person, "October twenty-fifth, why?"

"And how old are you?" she asked, ignoring my question.

"Like, nine and three quarters? Why do you care?"

"You said you were an orphan, where are your parents?"

I frowned, "my mom died giving birth to me and my dad was killed when I was five. I stayed in an orphanage for like a month, bounced around the foster system, stayed out on the streets for a while and then I got caught and put back in the foster system. Rick was my fourth home since then."

"And your full name?"

"Arabella Selene Williams. Satisfied?"

She paused, "Selene?"

I rolled my eyes, "my dad was into greek mythology. She's the titaness of the moon."

She swallowed, "did he ever talk about your mom?"

"Sometimes, I don't remember much," I said, shrugging, "I think he told me she was beautiful, and smart, and that she had wanted to stay with us but she couldn't."

She took one of my hands in between her own, carefully avoiding me with her claws. She let her eyes drop to the floor, speaking very quietly, "Arabella, your mother isn't dead."

I blinked, "yes she is, very dead. Almost ten years dead."

She pulled off the goggles, lifting the top part of her suit that wrapped around her head, curly red hair spilling out. I stopped breathing. She turned her eyes on me, the same goldish amber as mine, "I'm your mother."

My voice was a breathless whisper, "is this some kind of elaborate prank?"

She shook her head, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. Her voice wavered when she spoke, "I am so, so sorry. I never knew your father died."

She had to be lying. There was no way this was my mother. Even as I denied it, I was picking out similarities between us. I had her hair, her eyes, the beginnings of her high cheekbones. I narrowed my eyes, "what was my father's name?"

"Michael. Michael Williams," she said softly. "His birthday was April twenty-fourth, he loved Johnny Cash for some ungodly reason and he played you Clair de Lune every night when you were a baby because he read in a parenting book that classical music makes children smarter."

I was floored. This was my mother. She had just smashed any lingering doubt to pieces. I didn't really get it, I just knew it and I realized I had been staring at her like I was crazy for at least a minute by now. I breathed out, voice wobbly, "well that's cool." She started laughing, silent, head-tossed-back, entire-body-shaking laughing. I found myself laughing with her and we were both in hysterics, the two boys staring at us in disbelief. Eventually our laughter petered out into little giggles and the woman wiped her eyes. I coughed a little, "so who are you? Besides my mother I mean."

That sent her into another fit of giggles and she sighed softly, "my actual name is Selina Kyle, but when I run around at night I call myself Catwoman."

I nodded, and then a thought hit me, "wait, Selina? Did Dad name me after you?"

"I don't know," she said with a shrug.

Batman coughed from the corner, "as much as I hate to break up this little reunion, we're running out of time until the nurse's next rounds so we have to get questioning done."

I froze up, "didn't you hear me earlier? I'd practically be spray painting my name and 'Andrei please come kill me!' in The Bowery."

"You're coming to stay with me," Selina cut in, "you don't have to worry about that."

I blinked, pausing to consider that. I'd have an honest to god home. I'd be safe. The concept didn't really click in my head but I found myself resigning to Batman's questioning anyway, "what do you need to know?"

"Who's this Andrei you keep talking about?"

I shook my head, "I don't really know, except the fact that he's psychotic. His gang shot off from the Bratva like twenty years ago. They're the ones who killed my dad, and they killed-" I cut myself off, "someone else I know. But that was her fault, she got cocky. They have a system set up, they knock on your door with guns and ask if you'd be interested in having their protection. If you say no, they kill you, and if you say yes you have to pay them every month. If you don't come through on a payment, they kill you."

"Is that what happened to your father?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know," I said, "I don't remember much about it. He woke me up in the middle of the night and told me to hide in my closet until he came to get me. Then there was yelling and a really loud bang and I stayed there for a really long time, I think I fell asleep again. He never came, so I crawled out and he was lying face down in our living room. I rolled him over, and he wasn't breathing so I kept shaking him. When he wouldn't wake up I went across the hall to this old lady who'd babysit me sometimes. She freaked out and called the police." I talked about it in a detached way. I had the story down by now and it was better not to think about it too much and just recite it.

"I'm sorry," he said, and I had the feeling he genuinely meant it, "so why were you scared of Andrei coming after you now?"

"Rick, my foster father, he was in his gang. He wasn't high up or anything but Andrei's pretty involved, so when he hears about something he checks it out personally. After what I did, he would have killed me slowly and painfully, made it even worse if he recognized me."

"Why would he have recognized you?"

I cursed myself, "I had a run-in with them when I was living on the streets. It wasn't pretty."

"Is that when the girl you knew died?"

I frowned, "she was a friend of mine. When I first ran away and started living by myself she pretty much adopted me. Showed me the ropes, let me live in her squat with her, taught me how to pickpocket, who the best fences were, who and where to stay away from, things like that. I think she felt bad for me. She would run cons sometimes, play the fiddle game with this guy she knew using a pair of fake diamond earrings." I shifted in the bed, a little uncomfortable, "Andrei has a treasure room, where basically he keeps stacks of cash, drugs and weapons in the back of his club. The idea was for her to get dressed up, us to go there, her to distract the guys guarding the room and while they were gone I'd slip in, grab some money and go. It would've worked out, but they caught on. They shot her and she ran out the back door. I met up with her a block away and we were running, but she was bleeding to death and collapsed. Tried to get me to leave her there. The cops found us, and took me in. That's how I wound up back in the system."

Batman was nodding, recording what I was saying on his own strange arm-computer. He looked up, "I think I know what you're talking about. The gang's been a thorn in the GCPDs side because they haven't been able to nail any of the higher ups for criminal activity. Why were you shot?"

"I stole from them," I admitted, "Rick wasn't exactly the nicest, I wanted out, so I waited for him and his buddies to get drunk and fall asleep. They had been counting money, so I went in and stole a couple hundred dollars but I kicked a beer can on my way out and Rick woke up. I didn't make it out in time, and he grabbed me by the hair and cracked a bottle over my head. Andrei's not exactly forgiving, and Rick was pretty replaceable so Rick started freaking out about how Andrei was going to kill him for letting a little girl steal from him and then he shot me, and then he shot himself. I think he was aiming for my chest but he was shaking all over the place, caught me in the stomach instead. If I stuck around Andrei was going to kill me, so I got up and crawled out the window and down the fire escape, got maybe twenty feet and then Boy Wonder over here found me."

"Why did he shoot you though?" said Boy Wonder asked, "why didn't he just leave you for this Andrei guy?"

"I don't really know, like I said, he wasn't exactly nice. Maybe he didn't want to cause me more suffering, or he thought if he did this one nice thing he'd lower his chances of going to Hell or something."

"So if he was so terrible, why did he foster?"

I frowned, "the same reason other terrible people foster kids. The government gives you money to, it's supposed to be spent on the kids but he used it to buy drinks and coke."

There was beeping from Batman's arm computer and he looked towards the door, "we have sixty seconds until a nurse walks in, we have to leave."

Selina paused, pressing a quick kiss to my forehead, "I'll come back for you, I promise."

She opened the window, crawling through it and in seconds they were gone, Robin waving goodbye as he lowered the windowpane. The room felt strangely empty without them and I barely had time to close my eyes feign awakening as a nurse strode in. She was younger than the other one, maybe in her early twenties, short brown hair pulled up with a clear plastic clip. Her blue eyes were warm, "hey there chickie, feeling better?"

I nodded, "I don't hurt as much anymore, what's going on?"

"That would be the painkillers, do you want me to explain what's happened to you?"

"Yes please," I said, making my eyes go wide and scared. The terrified child act was one I had down pat by now.

She smiled reassuringly, "you were brought in by Batman and Robin with a gunshot wound to the abdomen- that's your stomach," she said, pointing at the gauzed-over area with her pen, "you were brought directly into surgery. The bullet was lodged in your intestines but it missed any other major organs. You're very lucky you know, it's a miracle you didn't die from hydrostatic shock. You were given a blood transfusion and some stomach acid leaked out of your intestines so you're on antibiotics for peritonitis, alongside some fluids. Any questions?"

"What are these sticky thingies?" I asked, gesturing to the little pads with wires coming out that were stuck under my hospital gown.

"They're electrodes, they monitor your heartbeat. The thing in your nose is called a cannula and it's providing you with extra oxygen but since you seem to be breathing fine I can remove it." She went about her business, writing things down on a clipboard at the foot of my bed. After she was finished she paused, "oh, some officers from the GCPD might come in to do some questioning tomorrow while everything is still fresh in your mind. You'll be here for a minimum of four weeks to recover, but they might downgrade you from PICU to the pediatrics floor."

I nodded, "thank you for all your help."

She shook her head fondly, "that's my job chickie," suddenly she frowned, "what's that on your forehead?"

I rubbed my forehead, my fingers coming away stained red and I realized Selina's lipstick had come off on my forehead. I opted to play dumb, "I don't know."

She looked suspicious for a second but then shrugged, "try and get some rest."

As she left, humming something underneath her breath, I loosed a nervous breath. She had given me more of those painkillers and as I laid back down a wave of tiredness washed over me. Letting my eyes drift closed, I faded back into sleep.

* * *

The next day the same nurse brought me breakfast, of which I only ate the toast. In daylight I could see that the room was painted a cheerful shade of yellow, covered in murals of balloons, teddy bears and other kinds of things I guessed would be reassuring for normal kids. The police came and went, questioning me as nicely as humanly possible. I told them less than I had Batman and the bunch, leaving out any parts that had to do with me committing any kind of crime. They thanked me for my time, I fell asleep again, and when I woke up Selina was sitting in the chair next to my bed dressed like a normal person.

"Good morning _minou_ ," she said by way of greeting, "how are you feeling?"

"Better than I was yesterday," I said, "what are you doing here?"

"I came to see you, and bring you this," she laid a newspaper in my lap, and I took a minute to take in her appearance. Her hair was pulled back in a low bun, and she was wearing expensive clothing complete with heels that matched her purse. She had long fake nails with french tips and simple makeup, wearing the same dark red lipstick from last night. She looked well-off, and if I had seen her on the street I would have tried to go for the fancy silver watch on her wrist.

The newspaper was copy of this morning's Gotham Gazette. A picture of Batman and Robin inside Andrei's treasure room with Selina exiting to the side was blown up on the front page, captioned in big black letters, 'CATWOMAN HELPS BATMAN & ROBIN TAKE DOWN NOTORIOUS LOCAL GANG'. I looked up at her, "you're not a vigilante are you?"

She shook her head, "not exactly. I started out as a thief, but let's just say I'm more so on the straight and narrow these days. I work for various government agencies, and I'm largely considered not to be a criminal anymore by the masses."

"Okay," I said slowly, "so what's going to happen to me now?"

She looked nervous all of the sudden, "if you're okay with it, I'll be adopting you."

The concept threw me for a loop. Every kid in the system's dream was to be adopted. I had never wanted it, preferring to live on my own, but I would be lying if I said I hadn't wondered what it would be like once or twice. A thought popped into my head, "how are we going to explain how much we look alike?"

"The best lies have a bit of truth mixed in," she said, almost like she was teasing or teaching me, "the general story for anyone who asks is that I had you when I was young and left your father. I wasn't allowed to keep in contact with you, so I didn't know when your father died. I saw you on the news last night, immediately recognized you and decided this was my second chance to be your mother."

I frowned, "how did you find me last night?"

"Br- Batman contacted me. He knows me personally, so when he saw you? They don't call him the world's greatest detective for no good reason."

I was suddenly nervous, dropping her gaze to fidget with my blanket, "do you- is adopting me what you want? Because if not, I was doing fine before."

She looked horrified, "of course I want to adopt you!" Leaning halfway out of her chair, she grabbed my hands, "I have never stopped regretting not being a part of your life. At first I was convinced that it was for your safety, and after that I was convinced you and your father would hate me. I didn't stop crying for months after I left. I spent every single one of your birthdays wondering what you were like, what your first word was, if you drew pictures in crayon to put on the fridge. I am so grateful that Batman called me, because this is all I've ever wanted."

I felt my lower lip wobble, and I bit down fiercely on it to stop from crying, my nose burning. When I spoke my voice was shaky, "do I need to sign anything?"

"No, you're fine. I just wanted your consent before I put the paperwork through. I should be your legal guardian before you're discharged," she said, smiling softly.

"Yeah, that nurse said I'd be out in like a month? She kind of explained what happened, says I'm taking medicine for something that ends in -itis."

Selina frowned, "apparently you were very lucky. You underwent a very involved surgery and according to the anesthetist you had to be resuscitated halfway through."

"Sheer dumb luck is how I've survived a lot of things," I said with a shrug, "am I going to live with you?"

"Mmhm," she hummed, "I live in an apartment in the Upper East Side. Do you know how much school you've completed?"

I had gone to school in month-long stretches, missing time every time I settled into a new home and I had skipped two years of school altogether on the street. I shook my head, "I couldn't tell you. I can read and write and do some math but I wouldn't be able to tell you what grade I should be in."

She nodded, "that's fine, we'll figure it out. You'll probably be home schooled for a while until we can get you up to the grade level you should be. Do you like learning?"

"Yeah," I said shyly, "I used to kick around the library in The Bowery, especially in the winter. They let you read whatever you want if you stay out of the way and it's heated."

Her face grew serious and she grabbed my hand, "I really am so sorry for what you had to live through. I know that kind of life isn't easy, and I never wanted it for you."

I spoke slowly, "how come you left Dad? Did you stop loving him?"

"God no," she said, sounding taken aback, "I loved you and your father so, so much. That's why I didn't stay. I have a lot of enemies, and I had a lot more back then. I was still a wanted criminal, if I had stayed I would've painted a target on both of your backs and involved you in things you didn't need to be involved in." She dropped her gaze to the floor, "I always intended to live my life alone. I didn't ever imagine that I would fall in love with someone, or have a daughter. The only thing I knew when you were born was that you were absolutely perfect, so small, so innocent. I never wanted you to see the way I lived."

I nodded, deciding to go for a quick change of subject, "so did you bring me a muffin or something? Hospital food sucks."

* * *

Selina's apartment was incredible.

I was finally released from the hospital, the sweet nurse with the hair clip had cried and made me promise to be good, and I had been allowed into Selina's waiting arms. She had brought me out to a limo, a freaking _limo_ , and the driver had brought us to this amazing apartment in the Upper East Side.

It was extremely fancy looking, and when you walked in you hit the kitchen first, sleek and modern, covered in marble and stainless steel. Selina had brought me to what had to be the best room in the apartment though, ushering me into the nicest living room I had ever seen. The walls were pure white with panel molding, dark, shiny wood everywhere you looked. It formed huge bookcases crammed full of books of all shapes and sizes along the walls, and there was a white marble fireplace with a eighty inch TV over top it. The room itself was full of French-style furniture that was still comfortable looking but were probably a couple grand a piece, a beautiful crystal chandelier dripping from the high ceiling. The floor was dark hardwood, and a set of giant french doors bordered by gauzy white curtains was opposite the fireplace, leading out to a balcony that probably had a really nice view of the skyline.

Stepping forward to take it all in, my feet sank into the dark, cushy rug that covered the entire center of the room. I stood at the edge of the semicircle of couches and armchairs arranged around a glass coffee table, facing the TV setup. I heard Selina come in from the kitchen and turned to face her, "this is the most beautiful place I've ever seen."

She grinned, "you like it?"

I nodded, suddenly transfixed by the expensive-looking vase on the coffee table, brimming with strange little purple flowers. I trailed a finger along the vase, "this must be worth a fortune."

"Probably, I'd ballpark it around ten thousand dollars. It's from the Ming dynasty."

I choked, immediately retracting my hand, "ten thousand dollars?"

"That's what I'd ask a fence for, I wouldn't know the real value, I stole it."

That had me curious, "you stole it? When?"

She hummed under her breath, "ten or so months ago? I still get the itch sometimes. Don't worry, I took it from a cranky old man who didn't deserve it."

"I can't judge" I said, giving her a little shrug before turning my attention back to the flowers, "what are these?"

"Milkvetch," she said, coming to stand next to me, "it's in your honor, they mean 'your presence softens my pain' in Victorian flower language."

I felt strangely touched, leaning up to press a kiss to her cheek, "thank you."

She smiled down at me, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear, "do you want to see your room?"

I nodded, the niceness of the room was throwing me off, and I couldn't shake the feeling that I didn't belong here alongside all this expensive furniture. Selina led me through a separate set of french doors that opened out into a hallway, bringing me to a wooden door on the left. Following her inside, I stepped into a surprisingly bare room.

There was a queen-sized bed facing me, and a wooden dresser off to the side, night tables made of the same dark wood on either side of the bed and a closet with a few clothing items hanging in it already, but otherwise the room was empty. The sheets and blanket were both white, there were no rugs or accent pillows and the giant window that backlit the bed was free of curtains. Selina spoke quietly from behind me, "you have the necessities already, but I figured I could take you shopping today or tomorrow so that you could decorate it yourself, maybe we can get you some clothes while we're at it."

I was floored. She had left it bare on purpose, not because she didn't want to waste the time or money on me but because she had wanted to give me a sense of control. I couldn't put how I was feeling into words, so instead I started to cry, whipping back around to curl my arms around Selina's stomach, "th-thank you."

She doubled over a little to hug me back, wrapping me in her comforting rose smell, "I love you, you know." I just started crying harder, my tears probably ruining her silk shirt as she held me to her and let me sob, and despitemyself this was starting to feel like home.

* * *

 **GOTHAM**

 _ **October 29, 2006, 18:21 EST**_

* * *

Sitting in the back of the limo once again with Selina, I couldn't help but feel a little strange. We had gone shopping the day she brought me home, and she had let me buy whatever clothes I felt comfortable with, but that hadn't stopped her from picking me up a few things that were less 'plain'. I was currently in one of those outfits, a dark blue dress made out of something soft and smooth, either satin or silk, my hair pulled back out of my face with crystal hair pins, and black leather flats that probably cost two pennies and a skittle to make but had been over a hundred dollars. In all, the outfit was probably worth more than this car, and despite it being comfortable, it didn't pinch or itch or make it hard to breathe, I had never been so uneasy in my life.

"Where are we going again?" I asked, rubbing a piece of my skirt between my fingers.

Selina gave me a Mona Lisa smile, "we're visiting some family friends, that's all."

"So why am I dressed like this?" I gestured to the expensive clothing with a raised eyebrow.

"There's value in looking put together _minou,_ it'll be fine, stop fidgeting."

I grumbled, folding my hands in my lap, "so who are these family friends?"

"You'll see," she said, flicking open a compact to check her lipstick, "they've been asking after you."

"Does the whole of Gotham know I got shot?"

She laughed, "just the ones who religiously watch the nine o'clock news."

The limo suddenly started to pull into a driveway, great big iron gates creaking open like magic. Driving past them, a huge lawn came into view, complete with hedges and a fountain. I swallowed, whoever we were visiting had to be rich, as in 'I make seven figures in a quarter' rich.

The limo pulled into the roundabout that curled around the fountain, the driver unbuckling to come help Selina out. I turned to open my own door only to watch it swing open on it's own. An older man with gray hair and a kind face was holding the handle, peering down at me with a professional smile, "hello Miss Williams, welcome to Wayne Manor."

I blinked. _Wayne_?

He extended a weathered hand and I took it, eyebrows knit together, "I can get out of a car by myself you know."

He laughed warmly, "that may be so Miss Williams, but it's courtesy to help a lady out of her vehicle." He had a British accent sharp as cut glass, but it was full and comforting, not intimidating in the slightest, but there was still something about him that told me he could probably be terrifying when he needed to.

"Do you mind calling me Arabella? Miss Williams makes me sound snooty."

"I may, if that pleases you Miss Arabella." He pronounced my name strangely, _arr-ah-bella_ instead of _air-ah-bella_.

"I would like it, you say it nicely."

"Would you rather we said it that way?" Selina called from across the car, "I've always liked the British pronounciation better."

I nodded shyly, letting the man loop my arm through his, "so when you said Wayne Manor earlier did you mean _Bruce Wayne_ or?..."

"Bruce Wayne is who I was referring to yes."

I stopped dead, the family friend was Bruce freaking Wayne? Bruce 'you can't throw a rock in Gotham without hitting something I own' Wayne? Bruce 'I have more money than the rulers of several small European countries combined' Wayne?

"Is there a problem Miss?" he asked, turning his kind gaze back on me.

I swallowed thickly, "no, no problem." He was walking me up to the door now, the tall, thick, imposing wooden door. That went into Bruce Wayne's house. Scratch that, Bruce Wayne's _manor_. As we approached the entrance I turned to the man, "so do you have a name or do you guys just get serial numbers here?"

He laughed again, "I was warned about your mouth, my name is Alfred Pennyworth. I can assure you that Master Wayne is much kinder than your preconceptions."

The driver left Selina on the porch with a bow, taking off back to the car and I desperately wanted to join him. Instead I watched, dread filling my chest as Selina rapped on the door. Why she was knocking when Alfred could have just let us in, I don't know, but maybe it was another rich person rule. The door swung open to reveal a boy about my age, black hair slicked back from his forehead, "Selina! So good to see you, is this your daughter?"

He turned to me, strikingly blue eyes grabbing mine and I felt both very uncomfortable and like I had met him somewhere before, which was ridiculous because there was no way I had been within a five-mile radius of anyone rich or important enough to live in this house. I raised my chin, "I am. My name is Arabella Williams."

He grinned, and I couldn't shake the feeling that I had passed some sort of test. Opening the door even wider, he gestured towards the inside, "come on in."

I walked inside, albeit warily. I let my gaze flick around the entrance, two huge staircases were leading up to a second floor at the sides, first-floor hallways tucked underneath them. There was a huge fireplace off to the side, a large couch surrounded by armchairs propped in front of it. The room was full of antique-looking decor, the walls made of dark brown paneled wood, spotted with fancy-looking paintings.

The boy breezed past all of it, leading me to the hallway off to the left. Falling into step with me, he turned to flash a charming smile, "I'm Richard Grayson, Bruce's ward, but you can call me Dick."

I blinked at him in surprise, "at least you're honest." He laughed, but my brain was catching up with my mouth and a fierce blush started to burn in my cheeks, "sorry, you must get that all the time."

"I'm used to it," he said with an almost fond shake of his head, "it's an antiquated name."

"I don't have a set nickname," I said, desperately trying to move past my rudeness, "most people call me Ara, but call me anything you like so long as it's not Bella."

"Not a fan of Twilight?" he asked with a smirk, smug in a way that made it seem like he was recalling information he had heard before. I wondered if Selina had been talking about me.

"No, not particularly. A friend of mine was though, she wanted Jacob Black to jump off the page and profess his undying love for her."

"Are you more Team Edward?"

"Neither," I said, screwing up my nose, "I think she should be locked up somewhere far away from all men until she can make sound decisions about her love life."

"I think that idea has some merit," he said, knocking soundly on the set of doors in front of us. I jumped a little, I hadn't realized we had gotten wherever we had been headed.

A deep voice answered from inside, "come in!"

Dick pushed the door open, leading me into a room with the same wooden walls from earlier, but the majority of them were covered in floor to ceiling bookshelves, leather-bound volumes neatly arranged in picture-perfect rows along them. A man sat at the back on the right side, scribbling away at something from behind an old oak desk. He looked up as the four of us piled into the room, "ah, is it that time already?"

Selina stepped forward, face changing as she addressed him, "working yourself to death again today Bruce?"

I didn't really make the connection that this was Bruce Wayne until she spoke. I stared down the man who could easily buy my weight in gold a million times over and I wasn't brave, clenching my fists to hide my shaking fingers. He looked up at her, face softening, "nice to see you too, Selina. Come in and sit down, all of you."

We followed his direction, Selina, Dick and I sitting on the worn leather couches midway through the room. Bruce stood, coming to sit next to Selina, the two of them sitting opposite Dick and I while Alfred moved off to the side, pouring whiskey from the crystal decanter for the adults. I sat awkwardly, trying my ungodly best not to fidget while everyone in the room stared at me. Selina accepted a glass of the whiskey from Alfred with a smile, "well, this is my daughter Arabella."

Bruce took his own glass, "a pleasure to meet you Arabella, how are you feeling?"

He was looking me in the eyes, his own dark and glittering, and I couldn't help but feel like I was being X-rayed, Like he could see what I was thinking. I swallowed, "much better than when I had a gaping hole in my stomach, thank you."

He didn't laugh, but he did smile, the smallest of rumblings seeming to come from his chest, "that's nice to hear, I see you've inherited your mother's penchant for sarcasm."

Selina shook her head, "it's been a month and I still can't tell who of us is worse for it."

I laughed nervously, every single one of my instincts telling me to get the hell out of here and maybe snatch one of the centerpieces from the entrance hall while I was at it. Bruce turned his attention back to me, "it'll be Halloween soon, are you excited?"

"Not really," I said with a shrug, "it was one of the better holidays when I lived on my own, what with all the free food. There's not much point to it now though."

He looked surprised, "don't you want to go trick-or-treating, have a little fun?"

"I'm not much of a kid anymore Mr. Wayne," I said quietly, "when you're an orphan in this town? You don't stay that way for long."

His face shifted, and I realized slowly that I had _definitely_ struck a nerve because one of the facts everyone in Gotham knew about Bruce Wayne was that his parents were dead. And had died right in front of him when he was a child. In fact, everyone in the room looked a little uncomfortable and it sort of clicked for me that at least four out of the five people in this room were orphans. "Please," he said, taking a swig of his whiskey, "call me Bruce. And yes, I suppose you're right."

I nodded awkwardly, pressing my lips into a straight line and cursing my mouth. Alfred, the sweet blessed angel, cleared his throat, "supper is ready, if you should like to begin eating."

Bruce stood, draining the rest of his glass and clapped Alfred on the shoulder, "sounds like a plan."

We followed him up, and Alfred led us through the maze of hallways to a long dining room, four places set up at the end so that Bruce could sit at the head of the table. I took my spot next to Selina meekly, half-expecting her to chastise me, but instead she offered me a smile and a thumbs-up and I remembered that she understood. Alfred came out with plates for us all, a delicious smelling pasta heaped on each. There was bread set out too, wine for Selina and Bruce sitting up towards them and a pitcher of water with lemon slices floating in it for Dick and I.

Restraining myself from eating the plate in under a minute, I held to the basic rules of etiquette Selina had taught me, waiting for Bruce and Dick to start before picking up my own fork. I ate slowly, vividly remembering how sick I was after racing through the Italian Selina had ordered in on my first day out of the hospital. It was eerily quiet before Dick turned to me, "so, how old are you?"

I looked up at him, making sure to swallow before I answered, "I turned ten five days ago, you?"

He grinned, "I'll be the same age on the first of December."

"Cool," I said with a nod, taking a drink of my water.

Bruce turned to face me, "you said you were an orphan, has that been hard for you?"

"I don't really know," I admitted, "I haven't known anything else. This is harder for me than being on my own."

"Yes, I imagine it's all rather jarring," he mused, turning back to his food.

Dick was practically bouncing in his seat, "I heard you were saved by Batman and Robin."

I raised an eyebrow, "yeah, I was. Why, do you want to hear about Batman?"

"Nah," he said with a twinkle in his eyes, "he's boring-" Bruce choked momentarily and Selina patted him on the back, trying to hold in a smile, "what's Robin like? Is he the coolest?"

I took a moment to consider, "he's alright I guess."

Now Dick choked mid-bite, and Bruce started to cough. I flicked my gaze around the room, "are the two of you alright?"

"We're fine," Dick said, gasping a little for breath, "what did he do to earn such a lackluster review?"

"I didn't say he was awful," I said with some indignation, "he was nice, played twenty questions to keep me awake in the back of Batman's car."

"The Batmobile," Dick supplied helpfully.

I snorted, "okay that's ridiculous. But anyway, he struck me as optimistic. I don't think that'll last long though."

"Why not?" Bruce asked, taking a drink of his wine.

"He's fighting crime in Gotham, it'll wear him down eventually" I deadpanned, "you've seen Batman, he's practically brooding personified-" Selina coughed now, hand flying to her throat. I sat back in my chair, realizing she knew the both of them personally so she probably found this entire situation hilarious.

The rest of the meal carried on uneventfully, we chatted about mundane things and then Alfred announced he was bringing out dessert. He came in with plates of chocolate cake, and I felt something in my chest warm when he brought mine out last, a birthday candle stuck solidly in the center of it, "happy late birthday Miss Williams, make a wish."

"Arabella," I said automatically, not really sure what to do.

Dick leaned across the table, whispering, "close your eyes, think of something and blow it out."

I nodded, screwing my eyes shut. Then I reached another problem, what did I wish for? I had food, a warm bed, clothes, what else did I need? A thought popped into my head, and I blew outwards, holding onto it, _I wish this would all feel normal_.

I opened my eyes, the put-out candle drifting smoke into the air, and pulled it out, sucking off the cake that attached itself to the bottom of it. The flavor hit my tongue all at once, and my eyes widened, "okay, this is the best thing I've ever eaten in my life."

"That's Alfred's cooking for you," Dick said, happily digging into his own piece.

I grinned, picking up my fork, the wish seeming to work already.

* * *

"And then," I said, shoulders shaking with laughter, "he turns around and Carla just kicks him in the balls! And I mean nails him, I've never seen a grown man hit the ground so fast."

"And you just ran off with the money?" Dick said incredulously, leaning forward in his armchair.

"What were we supposed to do?" I asked, "it lasted for a solid two weeks too, all we did was sit around the squat, eat, sleep and read."

We were all back in the study, and as Alfred approached me with a bowl of mints the light shifted ever so slightly, casting Dick's face half in shadow. It looked so familiar, and ever so slowly something clicked in my head. I jumped to my feet, crossing the rug to get in his face. He leaned back, "what are you-"

I shushed him, pulling his hair forward from where it was slicked back and lifted my hand flat in the air so a bar of shadow covered his face from his eyebrows to the bridge of his nose. My jaw practically hit the ground, "I knew you looked familiar!"

" _Minou_ , what are you doing?" Selina asked, nervousness tinging her voice.

I glared at the boy in front of me, "you're Robin."

He stared up at me, wide-eyed, "and you're crazy."

I shook my head, pointing at Selina, utterly sure of myself, "she's Catwoman," I stepped back to look at the three of them, "and you're a short-" he made an offended noise and I stared him dead in the eye, " _short_ , black-haired, ridiculously blue-eyed almost ten-year-old," I turned to face Bruce, "and you're way too built for a CEO, I don't care how much free time and money you have, plus you have the whole stoic, infallible thing going on. Not to mention, you two are very cool with concept of me being a criminal whereas most rich people would be utterly scandalized at this point, _and_ ," I took a pause for breath, "what kind of kid skips over hearing about _Batman_ , calls him boring, and wants to hear about his kid partner? And then the two of you took my description of them way too personally to be unrelated third parties." I whipped to point at them one by one, "so if you're Robin, and if she's definitely Catwoman, well," I stared down Bruce Wayne, "you're Batman."

He leaned back in his seat, taking another drink of his whiskey, "well that didn't take you long."

I put my hands on my hips, "blame your partner, if he hadn't leaned over me when we were playing twenty questions I never would have seen what colour his eyes are." A sudden thought popped into my head, "wait, were you guys ever going to tell me or were you just praying I'd never connect the dots."

"To be fair," Dick said, swiping his hair back into place, "if you didn't have that one piece of information you probably wouldn't have."

I huffed, "so that's a yes on the 'we never planned on telling you' thing?"

"I didn't want you to get any more tangled up in our alter egos that you already have been," Selina said, swirling the ice in her glass, "I wanted you to have a normal life."

"Well," I said, "the solution to all this is pretty obvious."

"And what's that?" Bruce asked.

"Teach me. To do the superhero stuff I mean."

"Absolutely not," Selina said immediately.

I turned to face her, "listen, one, I can't rat on any of you if I'm in the middle of all of it too, that's the best insurance you're going to get. Two, you're Catwoman, so, I'm the daughter of Catwoman. You're telling me you don't have a single enemy who'd stoop as low to use me as leverage? Three, I already have basic fighting skills from living on the streets and I know Gotham like the back of my hand, including it's criminal underworld, which you," I pointed at Selina, "have been disconnected from for years. Ten bucks I know things you guys don't."

Bruce looked intrigued, "what's going on with the Maronis, they've been quiet as of late."

I crossed my arms, "they've made a temporary truce with the Falcones after the drug bust by the GCPD in September. Rumor has it they're planning on receiving a big shipment of drugs and weapons down at the Dixon Docks."

"And how do we know you're not making this up?" Bruce asked.

I raised an eyebrow, "you seen any fighting between the Falcones and Maronis since the beginning of September? Usually they're at each other's throats every second week."

He turned his gaze away from mine, "a truce is a possibility I've been considering, but admittedly it didn't have much weight in my eyes."

"So we've got a deal?" I questioned, unfolding my arms.

He stood, towering over me, and I remembered that this was the man that struck fear into the hearts of countless criminals. He looked down, "you're just coming down from a gunshot wound, somewhat malnourished, and ridiculously untrained. I could probably blow in your general direction and you'd fall over. You're not doing any sort of superheroism until you've gotten up to a better weight and have been trained to at least the extent Dick has."

His voice was terrifyingly commanding in tone, and I decided not to press the issue. Nodding somewhat meekly, a sudden thought popped into my head and I raised my eyes to his quickly, "wait, is that a yes?"

* * *

 **GOTHAM**

 _ **December 1, 2006, 15:36 EST**_

* * *

The hallway floors of Wayne Manor were freezing to the touch as I crept along them, a carefully wrapped box in my hands. It was Dick's birthday and he had no idea Selina and I were coming over.

I moved silently across the creaky wood the way Selina had taught me, reciting her instructions; _walk close to the walls, press the edge of your foot down and then roll the rest onto the floor_. I approached Dick's bedroom door with a stupid grin on my face, the only sound in the hall being wind smacking snowflakes against the windows. I enjoyed every minute of my training, even the meditating, and the practical uses were endless. Coming to a stop outside the door, I cautiously placed the box on the floor, taking a little bottle of olive oil I had swiped from the kitchen out of my back pocket. I poured some over the bottom hinge first, careful not to get any oil on my fingers. Stepping back to look at the top hinge, I noticed it was at least two feet above my head. Grasping the vial in between my teeth, I slid my feet into first position before doing a perfect sauté. Grabbing the top of the door sash, I oiled the second hinge as quickly as humanly possible, dropping back to the floor noiselessly.

Tucking the vial back in my pocket, I picked up the box and swung the door open in perfect silence, revealing the interior of Dick's room. His back was facing me as he sat at the desk, typing away at something on his computer. Continuing with the silent tread, I came right up behind him to speak in his ear, "happy birthday!"

I leaned back as he jumped six feet in the air, whipping around in a mess of flailing limbs to face me, "what the-"

I grinned at him, "you hit double digits!"

He just stared at me, shellshocked, "how did you do that?"

"I'm just that good," I said with a shrug, glossing over the fact that I had been planning this for a week. I held out the box, "I got you a present!"

"Is it going to explode in my face?" he asked, eyeing the box warily.

I sighed, "just open it."

He took it from my hands, doubling over a little at the unexpected weight, "what's in here, bricks?"

"Open it!"

He was a clean present opener, untying the ribbon and carefully separating the paper where it was taped instead of ripping into it like I would have. Opening the box with some hesitance, his eyebrows drew together as he peered down into it, "is this a record player?"

I nodded, pulling it up and out of the box before placing it on his bed, "you can play vinyls on it, obviously, and then you can play CDs here and use a cord to play music from an iPod here," I pointed at the various features as I explained, trying not to come off too excited. This was the first time I had ever actually bought a gift for someone.

He frowned, "it's cool but I don't have records to play on it."

I turned to him with a smile, "check under the tissue paper."

Lifting the paper out, I watched as his face slowly bloomed into a full-blown grin. He had a nice smile, even though he didn't do it a lot. I wondered if that was because of his parents. Lifting his eyes up to mine, he seemed to smile even wider, "are these-"

"Every Rolling Stones album ever, up to and including A Bigger Bang? Why yes, yes they are."

He pulled the stack of them up and out of the box, "okay, you're officially the best."

I shrugged, "I think Selina bought you cufflinks or something, so I figured I'd get something you'd actually like."

"You remembered I like the Rolling Stones?"

"Hey, you remember a ridiculous amount of mundane information about me for no real reason."

"Bruce says to memorize every person you come in contact with."

"And that's dangerous where I come from," I said quietly, "that's how you get attached, and then you're really screwed."

We sat in heavy silence for a minute before Alfred's voice floated through the open door, "Miss Williams, Master Richard!"

Jumping a little, we shared a small smile before running off to wherever Alfred was beckoning from.

* * *

Lying facing away from each other on the greenhouse floor, Dick and I watched the snow start to pile up on the roof of it. After dinner where Alfred had brought out his killer chocolate cake, Dick had received the rest of his presents and Selina and Bruce went off somewhere to 'talk about adult things'. I could only assume they were either going at it or having a weird parental discussion.

We had helped Alfred with the dishes and then came here, a comfortable silence wrapped around us. Listing my head to the side, I broke it, "are you okay today?"

He seemed surprised, "why are you asking?"

I rolled my eyes, "because I'm careful, not heartless. It's your first birthday on your own."

"I'm not on my own."

"It's not the same though, is it?"

He paused for a minute before shaking his head, "no, it's really not."

We were quiet for another moment before I sat up, pulling myself off the floor, "wanna go snoop on Selina and Bruce?"

I wanted to distract him. Dick's sob story was worse than mine in some ways, and I knew that it still hurt him. Over the past month and some change we had spent nearly every waking moment with each other, being homeschooled by Alfred, training in the Batcave, he had even taught me to swim. We had become fast friends despite myself, and the closer we got the more I saw how sad he was. He looked up at me as I extended a hand, a small smile gracing his mouth, "sounds like a plan."

Creeping through the Manor with careful feet, even our breathing was silent. Rounding the corner that lead to Bruce's study, I frantically grabbed his wrist as he almost stepped on a particularly creaky floorboard. I pointed at it, waving my hand back in forth in front of my neck in the universal sign for 'no good'. He nodded, pressing closer to the wall to avoid it, and we glided across the hallway to the Study door.

Lowering ourselves ever so slowly to the ground, we placed our ears on the door softly, making sure not to move it.

Selina's voice echoed through the wood, "I'm just worried about her."

' _Is she talking about you_?' Dick mouthed, eyes flicking to the door like he could see through it.

I shrugged carefully, heart going a mile a minute. Bruce spoke this time, "she's been doing well Selina."

"That's not what I'm worried about," she said, voice tinged with nervousness and worry, "she still acts like she's where she was before. I've never seen a kid sleep so lightly, and when she sleeps she has nightmares she won't tell me about. I wish you could see— whenever I scold her she shrinks down into herself like she's expecting me to hit her or something, and it's not like that's often, she does everything I say no questions asked. Like she wants to appease me. I don't know what to do, how to make her more comfortable."

I winced, squeezing my eyes shut as Dick's curious gaze landed on my face. I hadn't meant to do any of it, and I didn't want to make Selina feel bad. Bruce's voice was soothing as he tried to calm her, "it's nothing you're doing Selina. She hasn't been in a safe place since she was a little girl. It'll take a while for her to acclimate. Dick still has nightmares, and it's almost been a year since I adopted him."

My eyes flew open, and this time it was my turn to stare at Dick with curiosity. He looked displeased, so I stood up from the door and extended a hand to him, gesturing for us to go. He took my hand, letting me lead him through the hall back to the greenhouse. We finally relaxed, the fear of getting caught evaporating. He turned to me, "how do you know where all the creaky floorboards are?"

"Selina got me to canvas the manor as soon as we started my training," I said, grabbing a blanket from the armchair in the corner and wrapping it around myself, "said it would be good practice."

His voice was quiet, "you still don't feel safe? Here?"

I lowered my eyes, curling in on myself, "that's not it."

"What is it then?" he asked, "you can talk to me."

Sitting on the floor with him, I bit my lip, "I don't know how to explain it. It's like— like all of this is some kind of fever dream. Like I'm going to wake up tomorrow and be alone and barely making it. And of course I know I'm safe here, and I'd never be hurt, but when I feel like Selina or Bruce or Alfred is mad at me I can't help feeling scared. I know it doesn't make sense, but it's just how I am now."

I was surprised when he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into a crushing hug, "I'm sorry."

My voice was thick when I spoke, "you didn't do anything."

"I'm sorry you're hurting."

The thought of it hit me like a ton of bricks. It almost didn't make sense, that he'd be upset because I was upset. I wiggled out of my cocoon of blankets to hug him back, resting a chin on his shoulder, speaking softly, "you still have nightmares?"

He stiffened a little, but softened again a moment later, voice strained, "yeah."

"I'm sorry," I answered, genuinely meaning it. Dick was too bright to be unhappy, he didn't deserve to be haunted.

"I see their faces," he admitted, "terrified and dying. Sometimes I just relive it, watch them fall, the way they hit the ground-"

He cut himself off, and I tightened my grip, "I dream about that night, I get shot over and over, sometimes it's like a memory but instead of you finding me I crawl down the alley and die alone. Sometimes it's one of Rick's punishments, or the night Carla died."

We kept going like that, trading nightmares and fears back and forth as the air grew freezing around us. The snow kept falling, and we murmured quietly, our voices echoing around the greenhouse, and I felt safe.

* * *

 **GOTHAM**

 _ **January 12, 2006, 13:08 EST**_

* * *

I backflipped off the riser, the wind whistling around my ears as I fell, paintballs being shot from automatics above my head. Tugging the practice whip from where it rested at my side, I looped it around the railing of a second riser off to the left, yanking myself over to it, my hands met the cool metal with no resistance, and I easily flipped myself over the railing and into a crouch.

The sound of the guns stopped, and I peered over the railing, grinning down at Selina, "how was that?"

She smiled back up at me, "less than a second, good job!"

I flipped back over the railing, landing on the ground with her, Bruce, and Dick easily. I was unbelievably happy, partially because I had finally hit the under-a-second mark, and partially because I vividly remembered the bruises those paintballs left. Dick leaned on my shoulder, "you're officially unlikely to die if you get shot at it in this one particular situation."

I rolled my eyes, sidestepping to get him off me. He didn't even wobble, righting himself immediately. Turning to Bruce, I offered him a grin, "does that mean I can patrol with you tonight?"

"I fail to see how you can do that without a suit Miss Arabella," Alfred said from the Batcomputer, a tray of scones steaming slightly next to him.

I opened my mouth to retort, but Selina spoke from my side, "who said she didn't have a suit?"

I whipped to face her, "wait what."

She just gave me her Mona Lisa smile, disappearing off to the left. I turned to Bruce, "what did she mean?"

He shook his head, "I don't know, she didn't mention anything about getting you a suit."

Selina reappeared a few seconds later with a tall rectangular box on wheels, a white cloth draped over it for dramatic effect. I couldn't even muster an eye roll as she wheeled it towards us, breath caught in my chest. She grinned at me, "I was talking to Maxime after we threw around ideas for your suit and he apparently had a sudden fit of inspiration because next time I went back this was waiting for me."

She tugged off the cloth, and felt all the air I had been holding leave my body. "It's beautiful," I murmured, approaching the glass with religious reverence. The suit itself was all woven black kevlar. It had a tight turtleneck, and it would run all the way down to my ankles, an invisible zipper at the side, the long sleeves of it coming down to form gloves that tapered off into claws, extending about an inch past where my fingers would be. A pair of knee-high boots were on the bottom of the case, made of a soft, black leather that wouldn't reflect light in the dark. A bullwhip hung off to the side, coiled up and brand new. The best part was set on a stick up top, a carefully crafted domino mask made of the same black leather as the boots.

Bruce spoke from behind me, "why don't you make sure it fits?"

I had lost the ability to form words, nodding softly instead. I approached the keypad, surprised when it asked me for my thumbprint instead of a password. A random light shone in my eyes, and I blinked rapidly as the case beeped, the keypad glowing green. The glass door swung open, and I scooped up the pieces of the suit carefully, leaving a small metal box that had been resting beside the boots.

Locking myself in the Batcave's washroom, I slipped the suit on as a gently as humanly possible. Maxime, Selina's favourite tailor-slash-designer-slash-superhero suit maker, had taken every single measurement humanly possible when she had brought me to him the first time a few weeks ago, insisting on a handmade dress for me to wear to the Wayne charity gala Bruce apparently threw every New Years. I had hated every second of it, snooty rich people offering me pitying smiles and gentle,'how are you my dear?'s.

The hour long measuring session had apparently paid off, the suit fit perfectly. I adjusted the mask over my face last, pulling my hair back in a ponytail first. I watched my face disappear behind it, eyes gleaming. Staring at myself in the full-length mirror, I had to shake a sudden feeling of power that surged over me. I felt unbelievably safe, wrapped in the warm, ridiculously light-weight kevlar.

Walking back into the main room of the Batcave felt like coming home, or dying or being born. I couldn't find a metaphor that fully captured the feeling. When I walked into everyone else's line of sight, I watched them all grin, Selina rushing forward to hug me, "oh _minou_ , it's perfect."

I smiled into her shoulder, "I love it."

She pulled back, grabbing the box from the bottom of the case and cracking it open. A stack of pill packs lined the bottom of it, a few contact cases and a set of sleek black earpieces laid over top them, "these are for you."

"What are they?" I asked, peering down at the box's contents.

"The pills are sensory enhancers," she said, "they'll improve your sense of smell, make you feel things more sharply, you'll see. The contacts are cybernetics, they'll improve your sight, and they shift into night-vision with thermal signatures when it picks up darkness. The earpieces work as communicators, but they're primarily to enhance your hearing."

"Oh that is so cool," I breathed.

"All you need now is a name," Bruce said with a rare grin.

I frowned, "I haven't been able to come up with one."

Selina hummed under her breath, "Black Cat?"

"Eh," I said, wrinkling my nose.

"Black Leopard?"

"That's even worse."

"The Lynx?"

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response."

Dick spoke off to my right, "why not just Catgirl?"

Selina sniffed, "uninspired, but nice."

A smile was blooming across my face, the name echoing in my head like a heartbeat, "it's simple, I love it."

The four of them, Dick, Bruce, Selina and Alfred, had formed a semicircle facing me. Bruce smiled, "well, welcome to the team Catgirl."

* * *

 **So that's the new prologue folks! What did you think? Let me know. There's a few details (one really big one) that'll be making an appearance later in the story (wayyy later, like post-season one later), so fire off some reviews, I want to see if anyone guesses it.**

 **I honestly like this a lot better, I think it showcases a lot more of Arabella's character and hopefully makes her seem less Mary-Sueish. My twin actually pushed me to rewrite, saying, and I quote, "this shit's just unbelievable." He's my voice of reason in a lot of situations, so you have him to thank for the rewrite. I actually really enjoyed (not so much reading my older writing, ugh) and I might go back and do a little renovation with the older chapters. So, if you get a notification letting you know there's been a chapter update and there isn't a new one, that's what's on the go. Though if I do clean anything up I'll probably time it with chapter releases so you're not entirely disappointed.**

 **Anyway, given that this is the new official first chapter, I figured I'd leave a little message here. This is a story that I hold near and dear to my heart, it all started way back when I was in grade seven with a terrible OC named Alexia Everlark and has since undergone a radical shift to become the story it is today. I never wrote this story to be read by other people, I wrote it because it was a constantly reappearing daydream, I'd write chapters in my head on the bus, before I slept at night. Eventually, to keep from going insane, I finally put it down on paper (or rather a series of Google Docs), and now it's what it is, and I have no doubt it'll grow to become different in my head again before all this is over. So, yes, this is an OC story. A Robin x OC story, cue the clutching of pearls. Why? Because that's how it was born in my head four or five years ago when honestly Robin x OC was less of a trope, and tbh, no offense to Chalant shippers, Robin and Zatanna's relationship is weak. If you asked me who I ship him with I wouldn't say, "oh this OC I have," it'd be Barbara, obviously. Not to mention, Robin x OC is a veritable genre in this fandom nowadays, known for usually being awful, and never let it be said I back away from a challenge.**

 **So, whether you've been here from the beginning or are a brand new reader, or something between those. Whether you come here after a hard day, or you find it funny, or it's kind of mindless entertainment, whatever. If you're here reading this fic, I hope it speaks to you the way it does me, and I love you. Thank you for reading. See you next time!**


	2. Independence Day & Fireworks

**Hey guys! So this chapter is freakishly long, mostly because this is the two-parter pilot. The other chapters will probably be much shorter, about half as long, maybe a little more depending on the episode. Let me know how you like it, I'm not as happy with it as I could be, so let me know what you think! Constructive criticism is always welcome. See you!**

* * *

 _CADMUS_

 _July 4, Unknown Time_

I stuck the landing, finishing in a low crouch while my claws scratched across the floor. The noises and smells were overwhelming, and I had to take a deep breath to center myself. Robin landed next to me, escrima stick twirling around his fingers. I sighed, "this has to be the stupidest thing we've ever done."

He scoffed, "not the stupidest, up there on the list but not the stupidest."

"How do you always get me into these situations?"

"Hey, you were all for it at the Hall of Justice."

Aqualad turned to us, "if you two could focus on the situation at hand?"

"Sorry!" We chimed in unison.

* * *

 _GOTHAM CITY_

 _July 4, 12:00 EDT_

The day was warm, families were barbecuing, children were running around and fireworks were being set up in one of Gotham's only parks. Of course, if we were here in suits the lovely picture wouldn't last long.

People started screaming as snow fell from the sky, ice encasing the landscape and any poor civilians who were unlucky enough to be caught in it. Mr. Freeze's voice rang about the park, "enjoying family time?" A father and his two children were caught in the ice, "my family has other plans."

I didn't let my curiosity or anger get the best of me, and I waited for Batman's signal. His hand dropped, and Robin sent a batarang flying his way. "Batman, I was wondering when-"

I ducked to the side and Robin's laugh echoed in the empty field. He pounced from behind the rock, landing on Mr. Freeze's dome, jumped off and sent two birdarangs flying into his already cracked helmet. I just sat back, better off to let the dynamic duo do their thing than get in the middle of it and screw up.

"Oh, Boy Wonder. The Bat sent you to drag me off to prison. Frankly I'm underwhelmed." I narrowed my eyes, flipping myself over his shoulder and leaving a tear in his suit while I was at it.

"He's not alone, asshole."

"And the Cat came out to play too. No bother, I can deal with you easily enough."

"Great, but I'm kinda in a hurry here," Robin said irritably.

Mr. Freeze smirked, "kids, always in such a rush."

I grinned, all teeth and no warmth. "Not talking to you," Robin sing-songed.

Mr. Freeze turned around with an expression of horror as Batman made his dramatic entrance jumping out from his hiding place, cape outstretched and blocking the sun. I rolled my eyes, honestly how did the man chide Robin for his theatrics? He came down and punched open Mr. Freeze's dome.

"Alright, Freeze is dealt with, can we go now?"

"No whining," Batman said as he surveyed the damage. He sighed, "we'll have to get doctors down here to thaw everyone out."

I stepped towards him, "not to take a page out of Robin's book, but can't that be left to the authorities? C'mon Batman, today's the day!"

* * *

 _WASHINGTON D.C_

 _July 4, 14:00 EDT_

Two hours later, we were finally standing before the Hall of Justice. Batman laid a hand on Robin's shoulder, "today's the day."

Green Arrow grinned good naturedly, "welcome to the Hall of Justice!"

Aquaman finished, "headquarters of the Justice League."

"We speaking in rounds over here?" I muttered, and I got a nudge and a 'shh' from Robin.

I heard Wally before I saw him, "oh man!" He skidded to a stop, crossing his arms. "I knew we'd be the last ones here!" How people who could cross the entirety of the US in under a day were always late, I didn't know.

We walked past the tourists rather stoically, though I gave a young girl a smile and a wink when she stretched her hand out towards me. "Look mom! It's the girl one!"

The girl's mother smiled affectionately, "that's Catgirl Lila."

Several tourists were calling our names, and getting KF and Speedy's names mixed up or just plain wrong. It irritated them to hell, but that's what you get for naming an archer 'Speedy" when there are speedsters around. GA leaned in to talk quietly, "excited to see the inner sanctum?"

Speedy grinned, "born that way."

KF leaned over to gently elbow Rob, "have all five sidekicks ever been in the same place at the same time?"

Speedy cut in, in a rather scathing tone. "Don't, call us sidekicks. Not after today."

"Sorry," KF apologized. "First time at the Hall, I'm a little overwhelmed."

"You're overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed, why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?" Came Robin's frustrated reply. As we entered the Hall, giant golden statues of the Justice League stared us down. It was unbelievably intimidating. Rob's eyes widened, "oh, maybe that's why."

Steel doors that looked like they belonged on an elevator opened to reveal Martian Manhunter and Red Tornado. Martian Manhunter addressed us in his oddly accented English. "Robin, Speedy, Aqualad, Catgirl, Kid Flash. Welcome." He turned around to lead us inside and Rob and KF fist bumped. "You now have unlimited access to the gym, our food-stocked galley, and of course, our library." That caught my attention, I wondered what books they had here.

Flash turned around, spreading his arms wide. "Make yourselves at home!" Robin, Aqualad and Kid Flash sat in the chairs while Speedy and I stood. KF turned to Robin, "not gonna give up your seat for the lady?"

Robin raised an eyebrow at him, "would you?"

I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms. "The Lady," I said cocking a hip, "doesn't need a seat."

Rob snickered while Kid stared up at me with a dreamy expression I knew was fake. "Y'know, if I could rearrange the alphabet I would put U and I together." I moved forward, patting his cheek.

"And if I could rearrange the alphabet, I would put F and U together." This was a game we played, every time we saw each other he would hit on me with a terrible pick up line, and I would respond with a comeback.

He shrugged, "I'll get you one day Ara, for now why don't you sit on my lap?" He patted his legs.

I raised an eyebrow, and very slowly and pointedly sat down on Aqualad's knees instead, flinging my legs across the end of the curved chair. I held out my hand, "I don't think we've met, Catgirl. But you can call me by my real name, Arabella. Pick a nickname if it's too much of a mouthful, anything but Bella."

He nodded, seemingly okay with me being draped across him though he was blushing slightly. "I am Kaldur'ahm, but you may call me Kaldur." His face turned inquisitive, "Batman forbids Robin to give out his secret identity, but not you?"

I smiled, "I'm only permitted to tell you my first name, and I'm more under Catwoman's leadership than Batsy's." My expression grew dark, "that doesn't stop him from chewing me out though."

"Maybe if you didn't break the rules all the time I wouldn't have to give you lectures. And get off the poor boy's lap Cat."

I sighed, "where else am I supposed to sit?" I said as I stood.

"The ground, if you're so desperate?"

I glared at him while he stood with the other Leaguers. I sat on the end of Rob's armrest, swinging my legs across his knees to rest on the end of the other one. "Satisfied?"

He simply turned back around and I dragged my hand across my face. Robin snickered and glared at him. The room was oddly silent and my enhanced ears quickly tuned in to the adult's conversation. "Quick debrief to discuss the coincidence of four ice villains attacking on the same day." Batman raised his voice to direct it towards us. "We shouldn't be long." I realized the rest of the team probably heard him as well.

They turned towards the doors behind them and a scanner dropped from the ceiling. _Recognized, Batman 0-2, Aquaman 0-6, Flash 0-4, Green Arrow 0-8, Martian Manhunter, 0-7, Red Tornado, 1-6._

The doors slid open, and Speedy stormed towards them. "That's it? You promised us a real look inside, not a glorified backstage pass!" He crossed his arms. Who pissed in his cheerios?

Aquaman spoke to him calmly, "it's a first step, you've been granted access few other get."

Speedy thrust his arm up to gesture towards the tourists behind a window that peered into the room. "Oh really? Who cares what side of the glass you're on?"

GA stepped forward, attempting to pacify him. "Roy, you just need to be patient."

I didn't understand what was going on, and Roy was seething. "What I need, is respect!" He turned to us, arms spread in earnest. "They're treating us like kids! Worse, like sidekicks! We deserve better than this." We shared looks of equal confusion. He seemed annoyed, "you're kidding, right? You're playing their game? Why? Today, was supposed to be the day! Step one of becoming full-fledged members of the league!"

Kid Flash voiced our thoughts, "well sure, but I thought step one was a tour of the HQ?'

"Except the Hall isn't the league's real HQ!" My head turned around so fast I thought I might have gotten whiplash. What did he mean? "I bet they never told you, it's just a false front for tourists and pit stop for catching Zeta Beam Teleporter Tubes to the real thing! An orbiting satellite, called the Watchtower."

My mind was blown. Batman had been lying to us this whole time? They had all been lying to us. Like we were small children to be pacified with false stories. I was sure my rage was evident on my face. GA turned to Batman, who crossed his arms. "I know, I know. But I thought maybe we could make an exception?" He said with a hopeful smile. Batman narrowed his eyes and the smile fell. "Or not."

Aquaman stepped forward to address Roy, "you are not helping your cause here son. Stand down."

"Or what? You'll send me to my room? And I'm not your son! I'm not even his! I thought I was his partner. But, not anymore." Roy ripped the hat from his head and threw it to the ground. I was openly staring at this fiasco, my mouth open in shock. Sure we were all pissed, but leaving Green Arrow? I didn't think even Roy would do something so drastic. He had always been quick to anger, and even quicker to act on that anger. But he always calmed down and when he wasn't pissed off he was great, kind of a big brother figure to me. He stormed away towards the door, "guess they're right about you three. You're not ready."

I chased after him, grabbing his wrist. "Roy!" He ripped his arm away, accidentally hitting me across the face as he did. I held my cheek, staring at him with wide eyes. His angry expression turned to one of concern, then regret, then anger again. He stormed out, finishing his dramatic exit.

I turned around to face the rest of the room again, and Rob had already started making his way over to me when I had been hit. He carefully grabbed my jaw, inspecting my cheek. "You okay?"

I nodded, brushing him off. "It was an accident."

A loud alarm began to blare, and Superman appeared on the giant screen. "Superman to Justice League, there's been an explosion at project Cadmus. It's on fire."

The Leaguers approached the screen, Batman at the forefront. "I've had my suspicions about project Cadmus, this may present the perfect opportunity to-"

Batman was cut off by the alarm blaring again, "Zatara to Justice League," the League's resident magician appeared in a smaller window. "The sorcerer Wotan is using the amulet of Atem to blot out the sun. Requesting full League response."

"Superman?"

"It's a small fire, the local authorities have it under control."

"Then Cadmus can wait," Batman pressed a button, "all Leaguers rendezvous at Zatara's coordinates, Batman out."

We approached them, and Batman turned to us. "Stay put."

"What?" Robin answered incredulously, "why?"

"This is a League mission," Aquaman replied.

Flash cut in,"you're not trained."

My blood was boiling, I don't know what Batman called training if these last four years weren't enough of it. "Since when?" KF retorted.

"I meant you're not trained to work as a part of this team," Flash gestured to the other men.

"There will be other missions, when you're ready." Aquaman said serenely.

"But for now. Stay. Put." Batman said with a serious face. Ugh, when he got like that there wasn't any reasoning with him.

The Leaguers walked away towards the Zeta Tube, and I caught GA muttering to Martian Manhunter. "Glad you didn't bring you-know-who?"

"Indeed." Who was this you-know-who? I swear if I find out about one more secret in the next hour I'm going to kill someone.

Red Tornado stared at us for a few seconds, and then left with the others. The doors slammed shut with a loud clang. KF broke the silence, "tch, when we're ready? When are we ever supposed to be ready when they treat us like, like sidekicks!" He swung his arms wildly to prove his point. I was enraged, Batman had lied to us, and then treated us like small children. I was ready to punch a damn wall.

Aqualad looked utterly lost, "my mentor, my king. I thought he trusted me."

"Trust? They don't even trust us with the basics!" Kid ranted, "they've got a secret HQ. In space!"

Aqualad looked introspective, "what else aren't they telling us?"

"I have a better question," I hated when Rob sounded dejected like that, "why didn't we leave with Speedy?"

"I'm with you there," I hissed, "how dare they treat us like we're children? Telling us to stay put." I needed something to vent my anger out on, and then I got an idea. "What was it Batman was saying about Project Cadmus?"

Aqualad looked up, inquisitive. "What is… Project Cadmus?"

"Don't know…" Rob mused, and then he grinned. "But I can find out."

He turned and walked over to the computer, and I smiled. "Gonna' get your hacker on?"

"Mmhm." A robotic, female voice rang through the room. _Access denied_. Robin scoffed, "wanna' bet?" His fingers flew over the keys, and the file pulled itself up as the code flashed across the screen.

KF seemed astounded, "whoa, how are you doing that?" He said slowly.

"Easy," Robin boasted, "same system as the Batcave." _Access granted_. "Alright, Project Cadmus, genetics lab here in DC… that's all there is. But if Batman's suspicious, maybe we should investigate."

"Solve their case before they do," Aqualad mulled through the idea, "it would be poetic justice."

Rob chuckled, "hey, they're all about Justice!"

Aqualad sighed, "but they said stay put."

Robin swaggered forward, "for the blotting out the sun mission, not this!"

Kid grabbed Rob by the shoulder, "wait, are you going to Cadmus? Because if you're going, I'm going!" They turned to us expectantly.

I was on board the minute Rob suggested it, but I decided I had to warn these knuckleheads before we rushed into anything. "Alright, but if we're going to do it, we're going to do it right. We're going to be careful and if we get in over heads we're radioing for help." KF looked put out at the idea, and opened his mouth to disagree but I held out my hand. "Nothing is going to convince them we're not ready more than one of us getting seriously hurt. You don't want that, I don't want that, no one wants that. No screw ups, let's show them we're not just sidekicks."

"Just like that?" Aqualad asked, "we're a team on a mission?"

Rob shrugged, "we didn't come for a playdate."

Aqualad smirked, and I grinned too. "Let's go kick some ass."

* * *

 _CADMUS_

 _July 4, 15:00 EDT_

Cadmus was up in flames, sirens were blaring, and people were screaming.

"Help! Get us down!" A pair of scientists were half hanging out a window with the glass blown out of it. As the firefighters were reassuring them, an explosion rocked the building, sending the two scientists flying out the window. Kid ran ahead, running up the side of the building, catching them as he went and depositing them on the roof before he lost momentum and was sent scrambling for a handhold.

His fingers caught on the ledge of the window and I ran towards the burning building. "It's what's-his-name! Flash Boy!"

"It's Kid Flash!" I could hear him mumble to himself "why is that so hard?"

"So smooth", Robin teased and Aqualad sighed.

"Does he always have to run ahead? We need a plan-" When he turned to Robin he wasn't there, his laugh echoing through the parking lot as he parkoured his way to the building using his grappling hook and helped KF into the window.

Kaldur turned to me, confused. "They do that all the time, you learn to deal with it."

I ran towards the fire truck, wrapping my bullwhip around a rung on it and swinging myself up and into the upper set of windows above where I needed to be. I heard someone cry out, and there was a scientist huddled in the corner. I grabbed his arm, pulling him towards the window. "Hold on tight!" I jumped out the window, sinking my claws into the stone to slow my descent. I got to the correct window and took out my whip, giving it to him to grab as I lowered him downwards. He touched the ground safely, and I pulled on the whip, coiling it expertly and putting it back on my hip.

I neatly rolled into the dark room, and a few moments later Aqualad joined us. I crossed my arms, "nice of you guys to run ahead like that."

KF waved his hand, and Aqualad's eyes narrowed. "Appreciate the help."

"You handled it! Besides, we're here to investigate. Poetic justice, remember?" Robin said dismissively, focused on hacking into the computer in front of him. I peered around the room, and then I heard the familiar sound of an elevator button being pressed. We rushed into the hall, and Aqualad who had gotten there first stared, mystified.

"There was something in the-"

KF frowned, "elevators should be locked down." I wrinkled my nose, smelling something but not quite getting what the scent was.

"One sec," I grabbed a bottle from my utility belt and popped one of the pills inside it. Upon Aqualad's curious and vaguely surprised expression I explained. "Nifty pills Cat had invented, they enhance my sense of smell and touch. These do the hearing though." I pulled a device that looked like a sleek kind of hearing aid from my ear, immediately feeling the effects of its removal, I put it back in. "And I have special contacts that enhance my vision." He seemed satisfied with the explanation and I had to blink and brace my hand against the wall as I suffered from sensory overload.

There was the smell of burning everything, ash and smoke. Everything stood out in sharper detail and I reeled back as an acrid scent hit my nose. Coughing, I waved my hand in front of my face. "God, what is that?"

"What's what?" Kid questioned.

"It smells like death, like an actual rotting corpse, disinfectant and some kind of chemical I've never smelled before." He looked like he pitied me. I pitied myself, what could possibly make that kind of stench?

Robin was staring at the elevator. He shook his head, pulling up his hologram. "This is wrong." He scanned the elevator and made a satisfied noise in the back of his throat. "Thought so, this is a high-speed express elevator. Doesn't belong in a two-story building!"

"Neither does what I saw", Aqualad said as he moved forward and pried the elevator doors open.

"Hydrokinesis and super-strength. Cool, okay." I muttered as I walked towards the now open elevator. There must have been at least fifty stories beneath us.

Robin kneeled in the doorway, "and that's why they need an express elevator." He connected his grappling hook to the ceiling of the elevator shaft and jumped, zooming downwards. I waited a moment before grabbing onto the cord and flying down it as well, followed quickly by Aqualad and then KF. I could see Rob's cape fluttering above him. How far down does this thing go?

His descent slowed and I started to shimmy down the cord instead of sliding. "I'm at the end of my rope."

I snorted, "you and me both." He glared up at me before swinging back and forth and landing on the ledge by the doors. I followed him, moving to the left while he sat on the right, Aqualad stayed in the center and Kid braced himself against the wall and hung on to Aqualad's arm.

Robin swiftly began to hack into the door, "bypassing security… there! Go!" Kaldur began to pry open the doors with a grunt, and we all scrambled into the hallway as soon as they were open. The hall was vast, dozens of large silver machines mounted on the walls. "Welcome to Project Cadmus." Rob muttered, and KF ran ahead.

"Kid, wait!" Aqualad called out but he ignored him, and as I rushed around the corner I saw him nearly being trampled by a group of… something. They were built like apes, with odd faces and red glowing eyes and markings, and were about the size of two large elephants stacked on top of each other.

They also reeked of the smell from earlier, the strength of it had me doubling over and coughing. Rob came up next to me, his hand resting on the small of my back. "You okay?" I nodded, trying to breathe through the putrid air. Kid managed to roll out of the way just in the nick of time, and he breathed a sigh of relief, coming over to stand next to us. I slapped him over the side of the head and his hand came up to where I had hit.

"What was that for?" He said indignantly.

"What did I say about being careful you buffoon! I swear if you rushing ahead without thinking doesn't kill you, I will!"

He rolled his eyes, "yeah, yeah, Mom."

I glared at him, and then cast my gaze to the herd of… things. I shook my head, "whatever those are, they are so far from natural. They stink of what I smelled upstairs."

A smaller creature atop one of the thing's back turned to us, it's horns glowing bright red. "No…" Aqualad said slowly, "nothing odd going on here…"

We made our way to the end of the hall, where a door glowed green and then opened, revealing a cavernous room stacked from top to bottom with rows of glass cylinders, each with some kind of bright blue electricity crackling inside it. "I am officially whelmed." Robin breathed, and I had to agree.

We walked through the room, and inside each of the cylinders was a strange creature, with odd curved limbs that were bent at unnatural angles. "This is how they hide this massive underground facility from the world! The real Cadmus isn't on the grid! It generates it's own power, with these… things. Must be what they're bred for…"

"Even the name is a clue," Aqualad insisted, "the Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragon's teeth into the earth."

"And this Cadmus creates new life too…" Robin trailed off, looking at one of the creatures. "Let's find out why!"

I hit myself in the forehead with the heel of my hand, "of course! God, I can't believe I missed that!" This was a major blow to my ego, I prided myself on being a mythology and classics nerd.

Robin took his USB cable out of his gauntlet and inserted it into the port on the nearby computer. A hologram flared to life in front of him, depicting charts and crude pictures of the different types of creatures. "They call them Genomorphs… Whoa! Look at the stats on these things, super-strength, telepathy, razor claws, these are living weapons!"

"They're engineering an army, but for who?" Kid mused.

"And what purpose?" I said as I came up behind the boys to get a better look.

"Wait, there's something else… Project Kr… ugh, the file's triple encrypted. I-I can't-"

"Don't move!" A voice bellowed across the room and I whipped around to see who had spoken. It was a man, in a dark blue suit and a golden helmet, accompanied by several Genomorphs. He paused, "wait, Robin? Aqualad? Catgirl? Kid Flash?"

"At least he got your name right," Rob teased while he was half-focused on hacking into the file.

Aqualad blinked, "I know you, Guardian. A hero."

"I do my best."

"Then what are you doing here?" Kid Flash retorted.

"I'm chief of security, you're trespassing. But we can call the Justice League, figure this out."

The familiar beep from Robin's hologram told me he was done with the file. I settled into a battle stance, no way this is ending nicely. "Do you think the League's gonna' approve of you breeding weapons?" KF asked.

"Weapons? What d'you-," the Genomorph on his shoulder turned to him, small horns glowing red. "What've I? Ugh, my head…" He gripped his head like he had a migraine. My eyes widened as I realized what was happening. He lifted his head, narrowing his eyes. "Take 'em down hard," he pointed at us, "no mercy!"

"Oh shit."

The Genomorphs growled and pounced and I nearly gagged from the stench of them. Robin acted fast, throwing a smoke pellet down. I knew this was my cue to run the hell away, but KF and Aqualad didn't know him nearly as well when it came to working together. "Fuck's sake…"

Genomorphs came from left and right, and I threw them off me, using my whip to scare others off. There was a loud clang and I saw Aqualad flying into a machine, attacked by Guardian. I pulled a Genomorph off my leg and headed towards him, by the time I made it over he was electrocuting Guardian, who was sent flying backwards. We assembled and I gestured in the direction Rob had gone.

We ran, alarms blaring and I was coughing from the smoke and the overall stench, eyes watering. Kid skidded into the hall where Robin was hacking his way through a door, and Aqualad and I turned to face the incoming horde. Deciding it better to run for the door than try to hold them off, we ran towards KF and Robin, who were arguing.

"Way to be a team player, Rob!"

"Weren't you guys right behind me?"

The doors opened and they ran inside, I felt the Genomorphs behind us and Aqualad, in a last ditch attempt to get us inside the elevator barreled into me from behind, sending us flying into the elevator. I scrambled to my feet, helping him up and breathed a quick thank you, he nodded in return. We turned to the screen that counted the floor level. "We're going down?" Aqualad questioned.

"Dude!" KF yelled, pointing his finger towards the ceiling. "Out is up!"

"Excuse me," Rob snapped, "Project Kr? It's down, on sublevel fifty-two."

Aqualad paced, "this is out of control, perhaps, perhaps we should contact the League…"

We all stared dejectedly. No one wanted to, but we knew we should. How could this mission have gone so horribly wrong? To be fair, we weren't expecting anything like this. The elevator beeped, and the doors opened. I fell into battle stance, expecting more Genomorphs but all I got was a nose full of that same stench and a creepy-ass cavern.

Rob darted ahead. KF turned to Aqualad, "we are already here." And he quickly followed. Kaldur sighed, and I sent him an apologetic smile before taking off after them. The ground had an odd consistency, and odd whitish spheres were embedded into the walls, floor and ceiling of the place. We came to a fork in the road and crouched behind rusty barrels.

"Which way?" Aqualad asked.

"Yeah," agreed Rob, "bizarre-looking hallway one or bizarre-looking hallway two?"

"Hold!" Called someone from behind us. It appeared to be an anthropomorphic Genomorph, who sent barrels flying at us. Which were apparently filled with explosives. Yippie. We made a mad dash down a random hallway, another set of barrels exploding behind us.

Kid ran ahead, and when we arrived there was a woman who had been knocked over onto the ground and he was in the process of wedging something in the closing door. "Hurry!"

We dashed into the room through the gap, Aqualad kicking out the metal cylinder that held the door open. It slammed shut and when I turned around I saw KF at a console, and Rob was hacking into the door controls. "There, I disabled the door. We're safe."

"Uh, guys?" I walked towards Kid, who was reaching for a button on the console. "You'll want to see this."

The button illuminated the thing in front of us. Which turned out to be a pod holding a boy about my age, most likely a year or two older. Who looked pretty much exactly like Superman. In a glowing white suit with the red Superman crest emblazoned across his chest.

Holy shit.

KF approached the pod, eyes wide. "Big K little R! The atomic symbol for krypton! Clone?"

Aqualad looked over at Rob, "Robin, hack."

"Right, right."

A few beeps later and he was in, "weapon designation, Superboy. A clone force-grown in… _Sixteen weeks_? From DNA acquired from Superman."

"Stolen from Superman," Aqualad corrected, glowering.

"Well, it would explain the uncanny resemblance." I chimed in.

Kid's eyes widened, "no way the big guy knows about this."

Robin turned back to the file, "solar suit allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation 24/7."

"And these… creatures?" Aqualad asked, pointing to the little Genomorphs in a row above the boy's head.

"Genomorph gnomes, telepathic. Force-feeding him an education."

"And we can guess what else." Kid added. "They're making a slave out of, well, Superman's son."

"Great. Fantastic. As if we need propaganda shoved into the brain of someone with the powers of Superman." I scowled, facing the pod. What were we going to do?

"Now we contact the League," Aqualad said authoritatively. I couldn't agree more, this was way too much. No wonder Batman was suspicious. We all reached for our communicators, but all I got was static.

"No signal," Rob announced.

"We're in too deep," KF muttered, "literally."

I turned my attention to the screen, eyes widening when I saw the G-Gnomes' horns start glowing red. "Guys?" I pointed towards the screen.

"This is wrong," KF said.

"We can't leave him like this." Rob agreed.

Aqualad stroked his proverbial beard, "set him free. Do it."

"Guys!" I was too late, Robin was already typing and the pod was opening. There was the whoosh of pressurized air, and the walls of the pod twisted and fell. The boy's hand lifted itself from the slab he was lying/standing on, and he clenched his fingers into a fist with a popping of knuckles. "Oh we are so fucked, you idiots!"

The boy's eyes flew open and in seconds he was flying towards Aqualad. They hit the floor, rolling over until Aqualad was slammed into the ground with the boy on top of him. He started punching the shit out of Aqualad and we ran forward to restrain him. "Whoa! Hang on Supey!"

The guy definitely had super-strength, I was straining my whole body in an attempt to hold him back. "We're on, your, side." Rob grunted, pulling on his right arm. He broke free from Kid's hold and punched him, sending him flying back into the glass cylinder holding some sort of tubes in them. I could hear the boy's heartbeat going absolutely crazy, he was practically rabid. "I don't want to do this!" Rob shouted as he threw some sort of device that billowed smoke at his neck, wrestling to keep him in place, we let go as he was distracted and Aqualad kicked him in the chest, sending him flying back into the console.

As the boy coughed, Robin fired his taser which hit his chest. The boy simply grabbed the cables and pulled, sending Rob flying towards him. He picked him up by the collar and threw him into the floor, foot on his chest, slowly crushing the life from him. I saw red, pouncing and wrapping my leg around the boy's neck making him fall backwards with me. He grabbed my opposite leg, ripping me up off him and sending me flying across the room. I rolled mid-air, skidding backwards as I landed in a crouch.

Aqualad, who had recovered from his daze reached behind him, using his water-stick thingies to form a giant mallet that he swung at the boy who barreled through the air into the slab of the pod, leaving a giant dent in it. "Enough!"

We rushed to Rob, who we helped up as he groaned. He clutched his chest, falling backwards onto the floor again with a thump. I went to check his pulse, still steady but he seemed incapable of intaking enough air. The boy had risen, walking towards us. We stood, and Aqualad held out a hand in the universal gesture for stop. "We are trying to help you!"

Something told me that this boy couldn't be reasoned with, at least not right now when all he could see us as were threats. I settled into battle stance, quickly dodging out of the way as the boy ran forward to attack. He punched the space where Aqualad had been, leaving a giant fissure in the floor. Aqualad jumped at him, sending them both flying into the wall. The boy kicked him off, and as he came at Aqualad again I ran in-between them delivering a round-house kick to his face. He grabbed my by the shoulders, flinging me off to the side. I hit the ground hard, rolling in an attempt to distribute the force of it. Aqualad managed to wrap his arms beneath the boy's, electrocuting him. This apparently only served to piss the boy off, as he jumped several feet into the air, driving Aqualad into the ceiling with enough force to send bits and pieces of it falling to the ground.

Aqualad held on for dear life, and the boy repeated the action. This time Aqualad let go and he belly flopped into the ground with a loud metallic clang. I stood, facing him. "Just you and me then, pretty boy?"

He came at me and I danced out of the way, a head sized hole in the floor where I had been standing. I settled into the rhythm of it, dodging his attacks and leaving him with glancing blows. It was like fighting a bull, and the more I dodged the more pissed off he got and the more disjointed his attacks became. As we fought I tried to talk to him, "look, we're trying to help you out." Duck, "you've been created here, you're a clone." Side-step, "these people you're fighting on behalf of?" I jumped, using his shoulders to flip over him. "They're using you for their own gain." He growled, and he caught me in the stomach with an uppercut. I went flying up, and then back down. I gasped for air as I shakily tried to get up, "well that's gonna' leave a mark." He landed on top of me, straddling my waist as he wrapped his hands around my throat. I kicked and scratched, trying to get out from under him as he choked me, but he had me firmly pinned. His face, twisted into a snarl of anger was the last thing I saw before I blacked out.

* * *

 _CADMUS_

 _July 5, 00:01 EDT_

I was floating in a haze, somewhere in between consciousness and sleep. A voice rang in my head, " _time runs short. You must awaken. You must awaken, now!"_

My eyes flew open, and I gasped, my throat still burning from the boy's hold. Blinking, I saw Superboy below us. Kid started to run his mouth, "What? What do you want? Quit staring, you're creeping me out!"

I wondered how I could hear him, and my ears perked up at the sound of Rob's voice. "Uh, KF? How about we not tick off the guy who can fry us with a look?"

"That sounds like a solid plan to me," I agreed, casting my gaze back down to Superboy. He didn't seem as threatening now, more calm. I wondered if there were any of those damn G-Gnomes around or if he had some small bit of free will.

"We only sought to help you." Aqualad murmured.

"Yeah! We free you, and you turn on us. How's that for gratitud-"

"Kid!" Aqualad cut him off, "please. Be quiet now. I believe our new friend was not in full control of his actions."

"Well what if I," the boy cleared his throat, "what if I wasn't?" He spoke slowly, like a small child who wasn't used to forming words. My heart went out to him, something told me he regretted what he had done.

"He can talk?" KF asked incredulously.

"Kid!" I snapped and the boy clenched his fist, glaring up at KF.

"Yes. He can."

Kid glanced at us, looking for sympathy. "Not like I said it."

The boy was staring at me now, like I was a puzzle. "You're, you're different from them."

He looked like he was trying to recall something, "different? I mean yes, twice as talented and attractive, but not that much different."

He shook his head, "girl. You're a girl."

My formed an O, "right. You've probably never seen one before have you?"

"I think one of the scientists is female, but I have never been awake when she's in the room no."

I shrugged, "shame. We're great, smarter, more common sense."

"I take offense to that!" Kid yelped from his pod.

Aqualad changed the topic, "the Genomorphs taught you. Telepathically."

Superboy nodded, "They taught me much. I can read, write, I- I know the names of things."

"But have you seen them? Have they actually ever let you see the sky? Or the sun? Rob asked, astonished. I realized just how much this boy has been deprived of. He has never felt the wind in his hair, the sun on his skin. His feet have never touched grass, and he has never seen the stars. This was probably the most social interaction he's had in his albeit short life.

"Images are implanted, in my mind. But, no." He averted his gaze, "I have not seen them."

I scoffed, "right and a quick scroll through google images is a good substitution for the real thing." I was angry at these people who created him, he might have been a clone but he was still a person. He deserved to be able to live.

Aqualad spoke quietly, "do you know what you are? Who you are?"

He looked back up at us, immediately more confident. "I am the Superboy, a Genomorph. A clone made from the DNA from the Superman, created to replace him should he perish. To destroy him, should he turn from the light."

I whistled, "well that's quite the mission statement."

"To be like Superman is a worthy aspiration," Aqualad said, "but like Superman you deserve a life of your own. Beyond that solar suit. Beyond your pod. Beyond Cadmus."

Superboy seemed to take offense at that, "I live because of Cadmus! It is my home!"

"Your home, is a test tube," Rob challenged, "we can show you the sun."

"Uh, pretty sure it's after midnight. But we can show you the moon!" KF corrected.

"Which, in my mind, is twice as pretty." I added, "given that you can actually look at it. Stars too, ever heard of constellations?"

"We can show you, introduce you, to Superman." Aqualad finished. Something told me the Big Blue Boyscout wouldn't take kindly to Superboy's existence. I mean I'd feel violated myself, but he might at least give the kid a pat on the shoulder.

That seemed to be the tipping point, Superboy's face softening in wonder but the moment was ruined by the whirring of the door and a man's voice. "No, they can't." He, Guardian and the girl scientist walked in, each with a G-Gnome on their shoulder. "They'll be, otherwise occupied." The guy looked and sounded like a slimeball. I narrowed my eyes, what did he mean? He turned to the woman, "activate the cloning process." Oh. Oh no way in hell was I getting cloned tonight.

"Pass!" Rob called out from his pod, "Batcave's crowded enough."

The man turned to Guardian, "and get the weapon back in it's pod!" Guardian walked forward stoically and I was curious to see how this would play out.

"Hey! How come he gets to call Supey an it?" Kid complained.

Guardian rested his hand on Superboy's shoulder. "Help us." Aqualad pleaded. Superboy shrugged off Guardian's hand, glaring at him. The man came forward, "don't start thinking now!"

His voice grated on my sensitive ears and without thinking I spoke, "can you shut up?"

He looked at me, scandalized. "Excuse me?"

I blinked, mentally kicking myself. "Your voice. It's like you're a pubescent boy who's been chain smoking since he could hold a cigarette. Hurts my ears."

He glared at me, "Spence, make the procedure especially painful for that one." God I needed to learn to shut up. The man walked past Superboy, his G-Gnome jumping onto Supey's shoulder. "See, you're not a real boy. You're a weapon, and you belong to me!" The G-Gnome's horns glowed and I could feel my blood boil. That creepy old coot was making him believe this bullshit and I wanted to rip him to shreds. He paused, "well, to Cadmus. Same thing! Now get back to your pod!"

Superboy turned and walked away, brainwashed again. The doors whirred closed and I bit my lip, we need an escape plan. There was a series of beeps and the man nodded to the woman. These metal arms came up and I started to struggle as they separated into four taser-esque prongs. They quickly attached themselves to me and white-hot pain flowed through my body. I screamed, I could feel myself being torn apart on the molecular level. I could hear the man talking through the haze and I tried to steel myself but I couldn't think. "Get the G-Gnomes downloading their memories and once they're done, delete the source material."

Another wave of pain ran through me and I stifled another scream. I could hear Aqualad muttering next to me, "Superboy, you live. That gives you the right to follow your own path, a weapon, or a person? The choice is yours. But ask yourself, what would Superman do?"

I realized Superboy must have super-hearing, like dear old dad. This was Aqualad's last ditch hope that he could hear us. I whimpered, "please Superboy." I prayed he could hear me, hear Aqualad. My prayers were answered when I heard the door being ripped from it's place, the machines short-circuiting and the prongs stopped electrocuting us. I sagged in relief, my weight solely held up by the restraints. I looked up to see Superboy in the doorway, and I curved my lips into a small smile.

Mr. Voice Crack turned to Superboy, "I told you to get back to your-"

He was cut off by being violently shoved backwards, hitting the floor. "Don't give me orders," Superboy threatened. He walked forward and looked up.

"You here to help us or fry us?" Kid interjected.

Superboy narrowed his eyes for a moment, "huh. I don't seem to have heat vision, so I suppose helping is my only option."

I grinned, "so the boy does have a sense of humor."

There was a small clang and a whoosh as Rob freed himself and fell to the ground. "Ugh," he muttered as he rubbed his wrists, "lucky Batman isn't here, he'd have my head for taking so long!"

"Seriously? That's what you're worried about? The whole League will have our heads after tonight!" KF cried.

He had a point. We were going to get the verbal thrashing of a lifetime. Rob pressed a button and the walls of our pods dropped. "You get Aqualad, I'll get Catgirl and Kid Mouth."

"Don't you give me orders either," Superboy growled as he jumped up towards Aqualad's pod. Rob went for Kid first, then he picked the locks on my cuffs. "You really shouldn't have antagonized the scientist like that."

I glared at him, "oh hush you, like you've never smart mouthed a villain before. And his voice hurts! It's like nails on a chalkboard."

We hit the ground running, taking off towards the exit. "You- you'll never get out of here!" The man croaked from the ground, "I'll have you back in pods before morning!"

We paused, looking back. Robin reached for something in his utility belt, "that guy is not whelmed, not whelmed at all."

"What is it with you and this whelmed thing?" KF asked as we took off, four explosive birdarangs later and the DNA they had managed to collect went up in flames.

As we ran, Aqualad spoke. "We are still forty-two levels below ground, but if we can make the elevator-" he cut himself off. A pack of the giant ape-esque Genomorphs were ahead of us, and we skidded to a stop. Turning around, I saw that the off-white spheres in the walls were glowing red and Genomorphs appeared to be being born from them.

"Oh man, this is something out of a shitty sci-fi horror movie." I muttered as we dodged the fists of one of the big guys. We sprung into action, and I jumped into the air, using my bullwhip to swing over the pack by wrapping it around one of the Genomorph's horns. We all made it to the other side safely, except for Superboy who was currently beating the shit out of one of the giant Genomorphs. And sending bits and pieces of the ceiling and walls crashing down.

"Superboy!" Aqualad called, "the goal is escape, not to bury ourselves here!"

He turned around, wild-eyed. "You want escape?" With a grunt he grabbed one of the giants by the leg and sent it flying into two of the others. We were going to have to work on this guy's anger issues.

Aqualad pried open the doors and Kid ran in, landing on the ledge. Rob pulled out his grappling hook and I wrapped my arms around his waist and shoulder as it pulled us up through the elevator shaft. We landed gracefully on the ledge and I detatched from him. Superboy grabbed Aqualad, jumping to fly them up. He got pretty much there before his ascent slowed and then stopped altogether. "I'm- I'm falling?" Rob's eyes widened and he impaled a birdarang on the wall that Aqualad grabbed onto. "Superman can fly, why can't I fly?"

"Don't know," KF assured, "but it looks like you can leap tall buildings in a single bound. Still cool." He grabbed Superboy's arm and steadied him as he lowered down onto the ledge.

"Thank you."

"Guys!" Rob yelled over a loud whirring noise, "this'll have to be our exit!" He jerked his thumb upwards and my eyes followed it. The elevator car was coming down on us. Superboy punched the door out, and we exited the shaft just in time. I heard the now-familiar chatter of Genomorphs and we took off. "Go left!" Superboy yelled and we followed him. Maybe one of thing things the G-Gnomes taught him is how to get around Cadmus? "Right!" As we turned the corner there was a dead end hallway with an air vent.

"Great directions Supey! You trying to get us re-podded?" Kid snapped.

"No I… I don't understand."

I could see the merit in it, and I turned to Rob, who was clearly thinking the same thing. "Don't apologize! This is perfect!"

A few missing screws later and we were crawling through the air vents. Which is nowhere near as glamorous as James Bond movies make it look. I blinked and sneezed, the dust tickling my nostrils. "Bless you!" Someone called out from behind me and I gave a hum of thanks.

"At this rate we'll never get out," Kid moaned.

"Shhh! Listen!" Superboy called from the back and I stopped, straining my ears. The chittering of Genomorphs told me we weren't going to be alone in a few seconds and I cursed. We got out at the next stop and Rob stopped at the nearest tech-looking thing connected to the mainframe.

"What are you doing?" Kid complained.

I hit him over the head, "probably something to throw them off our trail you doofus."

Rob looked up with a smirk, "I hacked the motion sensors."

"Sweet!" KF cheered.

"Still plenty of them between us and out," Robin warned and KF grinned happily.

"But I've finally got room to move!" He slid his goggles over his eyes and took off up the stairwell. I sighed, and we ran after him. He made a good battering ram, I mused as he ran through lines of Genomorphs.

"More behind us!" Rob called out, eyes on his hologram.

Superboy kicked the stairs connecting us and them down, and I grabbed the rail to steady myself as we ran up another flight of stairs. We got to the top and as we ran I heard the familiar sound of Kid crashing into something. Couldn't be good. An alarm blared as the light in the hallway turned red. "We're cut off from the street," Aqualad observed.

"Thanks," KF drawled, "my head hadn't noticed."

Superboy and Kaldur tried to pry open the door to no avail, and my attempts to claw through it didn't work either. What the hell was this stuff made of? "Can't hack this fast enough!" Robin hissed, fingers flying across the keyboard. The giant Genomorphs burst into the hall and he turned, kicking in the door next to him. "This way!"

We ran through it, straight into Guardian and a huge crowd of Genomorphs. And damn if it wasn't intimidating. Loud clomping came from behind us and we were met with yet more Genomorphs. How many of them are there?

We all settled into battle stances, and I watched as all the little G-Gnome's horns glowed. My vision turned black and I hit the ground.

I couldn't have been out too long, nothing had changed in the time I was unconscious. The tall, anthropomorphic Genomorph was there, horns glowing. Superboy stood, hands clenched into fists. "I. Choose. Freedom."

"Feels like… fog lifting?"

We rose, and I clutched my aching head. "Guardian?"

"Go. I'll deal with Desmond."

So that was Mr. Voice Crack's name. Huh.

"I think not." I wanted to beat my head off a wall. Could he just, for once, not materialize out of nowhere contradicting a statement? Just once? The Genomorphs parted to reveal him. "Project Blockbuster will give me the power I need to restore order to Cadmus," he held an uncorked vial full of neon blue liquid. The smell of it was acrid, like nail polish remover and bleach had a baby. Throwing it back, he groaned as the unnatural sound of skin inflating and ripping filled the air. He fell down, his clothes falling apart as his body changed into a giant, dark blue, ugly as all hell creature. The grin on his inhuman face was chilling, and little strips of skin decorated it. I wanted to puke.

"Everyone, stay back!" Guardian outstretched his arms and then charged Desmond, who sent him flying into the nearby wall with one hand. Superboy ran forward and punched him in the face, only to receive a punch himself that sent him down into the ground, he skidded on his back, deftly flipping himself over, and jumped back towards Desmond. Desmond jumped at him as well, and they went up through the ceiling.

We stepped forward and I observed the new gaping hole, "well that's one way to bust through the ceiling." Robin remarked, taking out his grappling hook. He fired it off through the hole.

"Think lab coat planned that?" Kid asked as he grabbed my hand and Rob took his, we flew up through the gap, landing on the floor of the new room.

"I doubt he is planning anything anymore," Aqualad noted as he jumped up through the hole, landing in a crouch a few feet away from us.

I nodded, "whatever that Project Blockbuster formula is, it turned him into a monster. I don't think he even has the capacity for proper thought." We saw Superboy jump, and Desmond grabbed him by the feet and flung him towards us. He collided with Aqualad, sending the both of them rolling across the floor. "Jeez Supey, how many times you gonna' barrel into Aqualad tonight?"

He grunted, and we ran to help them up. Desmond roared and I could smell his terrible breath from here. Mixed with scent of Project Blockbuster, it made my eyes water. We ran forward as he himself charged, KF leading the way. As he skidded beneath Desmond, Aqualad and Superboy double punched him, sending him tripping backwards. At this, Kid bridged, sending him crashing the ground. KF made a noise of satisfaction in the back of his throat, "learned that one Kindergarten."

Rob flipped over Kid, sending two birdarangs Desmond's way but he managed to roll out of the way just in time. On his hands and knees, I pounced, landing directly on his back. He jumped to his feet, sending me tumbling towards the ground and I flipped backwards, trying to control where I ended up. I stuck the landing, finishing in a low crouch while my claws scratched across the floor. The noises and smells were overwhelming, and I had to take a deep breath to center myself. Robin landed next to me, escrima stick twirling around his fingers. I sighed, "this has to be the stupidest thing we've ever done."

He scoffed, "not the stupidest, up there on the list but not the stupidest."

"How do you always get me into these situations?"

"Hey, you were all for it at the Hall of Justice."

Aqualad turned to us, "if you two could focus on the situation at hand?"

"Sorry!" We chimed in unison.

Superboy was grappling with Desmond, and got tackled into a stone pillar. Aqualad rushed forward, a water mace ready to go and was promptly thrown to the ground. Desmond threw Superboy into yet another pillar, and I uncoiled my bullwhip and sent it flying. It wrapped around Desmond's throat and I gave it a sharp yank, sending him tripping. Kid took the opportunity to go at him, and ended up getting himself and Aqualad thrown into separate pillars. What did this guy have for pillars? I binked as I realized what was happening, and I got an idea. As Aqualad was being tackled through the pillar he landed on, the room shook and I gestured to Robin.

"Of course!" He pulled up a map of the room, more specifically the pillars. "KF, get over here!"

Superboy was defending Aqualad, who was being held by his head, desperately blocking Desmond's punches with a water shield. "Alright, Cat see if you can get Desmond to punch through that one, KF you distract him afterwards and go for these. Got it?"

"Got it!"

"Go."

I gently cracked my whip, getting Desmond's attention. "Hey big guy, why don't you give those two a break and come play with me instead?" I hit him across the shoulder and he roared in pain and anger. I worked like a bullfighter, moving back towards where I wanted him to go and sidestepping his attacks only to hit him with my whip a few seconds later. Once we were next to the desired pillar I wrapped my whip around his neck, tugging viciously and he fell towards me. I delivered a strong kick to his stomach. I side-stepped, expecting him to punch through the pillar. Instead, he grabbed the cord of my whip and swung me through it.

I was mildly surprised that my body being swung had enough force behind it to break the pillar, but I ended up on the ground a few feet away from the rubble desperately trying to intake air. The debilitating pain that came from breathing told me I had cracked a rib or two. The only thing I could think for a moment was a stream of curse words, but I knew I had to get up as Desmond would be on me again in seconds. I rolled, dodging a punch that might have splattered my brain matter all over this floor and stood shakily. Kid moved in to do his part, punching him and grabbing the bit of skin that hung on Desmond's face. "Got your nose!"

He led Desmond around, pillars being smashed left and right. "Superboy! Aqualad!" Rob showed them the holographic map. "This one, and that one!" They nodded, and took off. I carefully made my way over to him and he met me halfway, stretching out a hand to steady me. "You okay?"

"Just a cracked rib or two, y'know the usual," I wheezed, wrapping my arm around my midsection in an attempt to deal with the pain. I envied Aqualad and Superboy's natural ability to get the shit beaten out of them and come back unhurt. Humans are so freaking fragile.

"Alright, try not to get hurt again? I don't want to wake up in the middle of the night and find Selina standing over me with a knife."

"Nice to know how much you care."

"Yeah, well that too."

I laughed, an idiotic move that sent me doubling over but it was worth it. He pulled out a piece of chalk, drawing a large X on the floor. Honestly what doesn't that boy have in his utility belt? Aqualad made a large puddle of water on top of the X, with a trail leading a foot away from it. Kid skidded to a stop, ducking as Superboy punched Desmond, sending him flying directly into the puddle. Aqualad knelt, electrocuting him via the puddle, keeping him in the one spot. "Move!" Rob yelled and I found myself being carried bridal style by Aqualad.

"I can walk!"

"Not fast enough!"

Several explosions later the roof started to fall to pieces, and I felt myself being dogpiled upon. The force of it didn't make my injured ribs happy but I appreciated the sentiment. Superboy and Aqualad had jumped on top of us to protect our less-hardy bodies and Robin had curled around me effectively protecting my rib cage from falling rock. There was a loud boom as the entirety of Cadmus' upper levels crumbled. I could hear the muffled sound of cement and stone falling down around us. We waited a few moments to ensure nothing else had to fall, and I think it was Superboy who got up and threw the rubble off us.

Rob helped me up, and Aqualad spoke in between gasps of air. "We, did it." Robin rubbed the back of his neck, and Kid was next to me bracing himself on his knees as he grinned victoriously. I smiled too, though desperately trying to draw air into my lungs. We had done it, we had investigated Cadmus, found out what they were up to, and effectively neutralized the threat. There might have been a ruined building to show for it, but we had done it and done it without help, working as a team. I felt a rush of pride go through me, and I let out a relieved sigh. Which was more like a wheeze but whatever.

"Was there, ever any doubt?" Rob responded. He and Kid high-fived, which sent them both reaching for their chests in pain and I wondered if I was the only one with cracked ribs.

Superboy stepped forward, staring as Desmond who was pinned under rubble. "See?" Kid pointed at the sky, "the Moon!"

"And the stars," I added, "look, that's the big dipper."

He stared in awe, and I smiled. That base, childlike wonder over something most people took for granted warmed my heart. A shadow began to fly from the Moon's general direction and I automatically knew who it was. I almost laughed at the irony, pretty much all our promises in one fell swoop. "Oh, and Superman!" KF sidled on over towards Superboy's side. "Do we keep our promises or what?"

Superman landed in front of us, the rest of the Justice League following suit. I blinked, taken aback for a moment. The entire League was assembled in front of us and it was more than a little intimidating. Our mentors formed pretty much one solid line, given they all had traveled on Green Lantern's disc and I wondered if it was a queue to tell us off one by one. I stared them down defiantly, we had done a damn good job given the circumstances, and I wasn't going to let anyone take that away from us.

Superboy stepped forwards, and Superman's eyes narrowed. I waited with bated breath, what would he say? Superboy lifted up the torn part of his solar suit, revealing the S symbol there. Superman's eyes widened in shock, and then hardened into a look of anger. Superboy's hopeful smile was wiped from his face and if I didn't like the Big Blue Boyscout before, I sure as hell didn't now. "Is that what I think it is?" Batman murmured.

Kid walked forward, covering the side of his mouth with his hand as if that would hide what he was saying from Superboy. "He doesn't like being called an it," KF warned and I wanted to hit him upside the head.

"Way to add insult to injury," I hissed, stalking towards him. "Could it kill you to keep a lid on it?" He glared at me and I glared back. I felt bad for Superboy, it wasn't his fault he was created.

"I'm Superman's clone," he interjected, and the Justice League gave each other varying looks of surprise and curiosity. He stared defiantly up at Superman, waiting for him to say something.

He didn't, Batman did instead. "Start talking."

We launched into a group explanation, letting Robin and Aqualad do the most of it. I interrupted every once and a while to explain something, Kid to add unnecessary comments, while Superboy stood stoically, and when we were done Batman crossed his arms. He said nothing as he walked away.

Rob and I gave each other looks of worry. Yelling Batman was a force to be reckoned with, silent Batman was something you avoided at all costs. The Leaguers converged to discuss transport for Desmond. Eventually the Hawks, the Lanterns and Captain Atom left with him, and the remaining Leaguers gathered in small circles. If I wanted to I could listen to their conversations, but I decided against it. There was a series of looks between Superboy and Superman, before the big guy eventually made his way over.

He sighed, "we'll uh, we'll figure something out for you. The League will, I mean. For now I'd, better make sure that they, get that Blockbuster creature squared away." He paused in awkward places and it was painfully obvious he was making up an excuse to get as far away from this situation as possible. I glared as he walked away, he was so formal and dismissive. Like it or not, Superboy existed and he was to an extent, kind of his son. And he was being overly neglectful. I could understand the want to have some time and space to wrap his head around the situation, but the least he could do was treat Superboy like he was a person instead of a problem.

He flew away, and I heard people approaching. Batman was there, along with Flash and Aquaman. "Cadmus will be investigated, all fifty-two levels. But let's make one thing clear-"

"You should have called!" Flash interrupted.

Batman cut him a look and continued, "end results aside, we are not happy. You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives. You will not be doing this again."

I raised my chin defiantly, hell yes we would. We made a damn good team, and I didn't sign up for this to sit on my ass while the adults took care of everything.

The rest of the group seemed to be thinking the same thing, and we gathered together in a close cluster. "I'm sorry," Aqualad said with no real regret, "but we will."

"Aqualad, stand down."

"Apologies my king," Aqualad raised his webbed hand to his chest, "but no." There was a fire in his eyes. Aquaman raised an eyebrow. "We did good work here tonight, the work you trained us to do. Together, on our own, we forged something powerful. Important." He was right, there was a certain sense of camaraderie that came with almost dying together. And here there was a team, a real team that given time would be able to work together effortlessly.

Flash stepped forward, "if this is about your treatment at the Hall, the four of you-"

"The five of us, and it's not," Kid interrupted.

"This is so far from about our treatment at the hall," I agreed, "this is about us being ready. We've formed a team, ready and waiting to do real work, important work. Let us."

Robin uncrossed his arms, "Batman, we're ready to use what you taught us. Or why teach us at all?" His voice broke slightly, I knew he felt like Batman didn't have faith in him and I was hoping that wasn't the truth. I rested my hand on his shoulder.

"Why let them tell us what to do?" Superboy spoke up from the back, "it's simple. Get on board, or get out of the way." We faced the League in a line, and my hand dropped to my side. Batman's eyes narrowed, and I waited to hear what he had to say.

 _MOUNT JUSTICE_

 _July 8, 08:04 EDT_

Four days later, I had woken up criminally early to travel here. A hollowed-out mountain in New England that would serve as our team's base. Young Justice, is what we called it, suggested by Kaldur. We had all liked it, it had a nice ring to it, and our mentors announced that we would meet here today. I was excited to explore the place, find all the hidden secrets and hiding spots.

We were gathered in the main room in our civvies, and Batman addressed us with several other Leaguers gathered around. "This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League, we're calling it into service again. Since you five are determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you'll do it on League terms. Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be your supervisor, Black Canary's in charge of training. I, will deploy you on missions."

"Real missions?" Rob asked and Batman stepped towards him.

"Yes, but covert."

Flash spoke from where he stood next to Wally, "the League will still handle the obvious stuff." He pointed towards the lightning symbol on his suit, "there's a reason we have these big targets on our chests."

"But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter," Aquaman added, "Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly."

"The six of you will be that team." Batman finished and I grinned.

"Cool," Robin said, then he blinked in surprise, "wait, six?"

Batman looked over our heads and we turned to see Martian Manhunter and a green-skinned, gingery-brown haired girl walking towards us. She wore a white T-shirt with the Martian Manhunter logo across it, and a dark blue cape, skirt and boots. I grinned, hell yes! There's another girl on this team!

"This is the Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian." I flashed back to GA's comment four days ago, and realized this must have been who Martian Manhunter was happy he didn't bring.

She waved, "hi!" She had a somewhat high pitched voice that was still pleasing to the ear and I internally groaned as Rob and Wally shared a look. That was their "attractive female is present, time for flattery" look.

"Liking this gig more and more every minute," Wally drawled. He walked forward before I could hit him and addressed Miss Martian. "Welcome aboard!" He pointed at himself with his thumb, "I'm Kid Flash, that's Robin, Aqualad, Catgirl," it's cool if you forget their names, he added. I didn't miss how he avoided Superboy's name and I smirked as I realized he did it on purpose in an attempt to take attention away from him. The boy was very attractive and apparently, Wally had taken quite the liking to this girl. If only he knew. This was only going to add to Superboy's mysterious, fixer-upper bad-boy air.

She stepped towards us, hands clasped together, "I'm honored to be included."

I waved my hand, "don't mind that pig, I'm Catgirl yes, but you can call me by my real name, Arabella. Pick a nickname, any nickname except for Bella."

She smiled and we walked forward, Superboy staying behind. "That's such a pretty name! I'm M'gann, I hope we can be good friends!" This girl was so perky, normally I would hate it but she was open and warm in her excitability. It was endearing.

"I hope so too, nice to know I won't be drowning in a sea of testosterone." She laughed, a series of bell-like giggles that was absolutely adorable.

"Hey Superboy!" Rob turned around to gesture to him, "come meet Miss M!"

He walked forward, and as he did M'gann's shirt turned from white to black, her cape disappearing completely. She ducked her head slightly, looking back up at him, "I like your T-shirt." He gave her the tiniest of smiles, which for Superboy was pretty much taking a megaphone and shouting, "you're alright, I like you!" at her.

Rob nudged him with his elbow and my hand came up to swat him across the head. "Manners!" Kid raced around to the other side of Superboy and rested his hand on his shoulder, giving her a wide smile.

Kaldur, who I would praise endlessly for not stooping to Wally and Rob's level, smiled. "Today is the day."

I grinned, looking around at my team. "Today is the day."


	3. Welcome to Happy Harbour

**Hey! (I haven't updated in five million years, forgive me. I started High School and it's more than a little crazy.) Anyway, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 _ **GOTHAM**_

 _ **July 16, 02:08 EST**_

* * *

I woke up with a start, breathing heavily. My back was aching and I realized Dick and I had fallen asleep on the couch. The screen was still lit up from whatever movie we were watching and the disturbing contents of my dream replayed itself in my head.

 _Rick held his head in his hands, "he's going to kill me. No, he's gonna do worse than kill me."_

 _I held a hand to my bleeding temple and felt like crying. Suddenly there was a gun in Rick's hand and I stood, holding out one shaking hand in the universal sign for 'hold on'._

" _Sorry little lady, trust me, it's better this way." He pulled the trigger and I barely registered it, a scream tearing its way out of my throat._

 _The pain was white-hot and blinding. I couldn't stay here, if I did He was going to come and it wasn't going to be pretty. I pulled myself up off the floor, trying to regain my balance by grabbing the doorknob. I walked over to the window and crawled out, making my way down the fire escape._

 _I had to keep going, had to keep going…_

Dick rose slowly, making the small clicking noise he always made in the back of his throat when he woke up. I was trying to calm down, squaring my breaths and I sighed softly when I felt his hand reach the small of my back, "you okay?"

I nodded, "bad dream."

His eyebrows drew together, "you're still getting those?"

"This was the first in a long while, don't worry about it."

"If you say so, c'mere," he held his arms open and I allowed myself to hug him, taking in the familiar smell. Everything was fine.

* * *

 _ **STAR CITY**_

 _ **July 17, 23:16 PDT**_

* * *

The night air held a comfortable chill, and I wrinkled my nose at the scent of gun oil that drifted over on the wind. We got news that Roy would be here tonight, there appeared to be some sort of deal going down, most likely involving weapons. We had found him, and he was doing his best to shake us off, despite the fact we were trying to proposition him.

We waited, and a familiar arrow zipped down towards the men loading the crates into the back of vans. It beeped and exploded, sending the men ducking for cover and the crate to the ground, a gun shaped somewhat like a pistol skittering across the ground towards Brick, the guy conducting this smuggling operation. I'd heard GA and Black Canary complain about him before, but I only had a small idea of what he was capable of and I hated that. I was used to fighting in Gotham, where I knew the criminals inside out, their powers, their motivations, what made them tick. Not having anything to work with here made me uncomfortable.

The Brick guy picked up the gun, aiming it towards the structure the arrow had been shot from. Roy stood up there, chest puffed out making himself an obvious target like he usually did. He had too much confidence in his own skills, and I hated how he thought of himself as invulnerable. It had led to him getting his ass handed to him more than once. "You again!" Brick boomed, "I'm startin' to get insulted Green Arrow's not messing up my operations personally!"

He fired the gun, and I marveled at the red light that came from it. Was that a laser? Who the hell invented the guns from Star Wars? Roy jumped out of the way, slinging himself around the structure to avoid getting hit. He jumped, flipping over in the air and firing an arrow straight into the barrel as the man was firing and the gun exploded, shredding Brick's suit to pieces even though he seemed to be unharmed. He turned around, looking for Roy. "Do you know what I pay for a suit in my size?" To be fair, it probably was expensive if he was looking for anything quality. He turned his head to his lackeys, "scorch the earth boys."

We flew into action, KF ran down past the guys, stealing one of their guns. Two batarangs and a laugh later, Rob was swinging past the unarmed men to some crates. I dropped, crouching low to the ground and smiled at the man in front of me. I wrapped my whip around his gun, catching it in the other hand with ease. I winked, kicked him in the head and swung over to where Rob was. Aqualad landed next to us a second later, water whips ready, and he slammed them into the lackeys, sending them back into the side of the van and then to the ground.

Brick literally pulled a chunk of the ground up and flung it at Roy, who was running along some loading crates, bow at the ready. He ducked, stopping to shoot Brick in the arm with another explosive arrow. It didn't even put a scratch in the guy, who pitched another chunk of ground the size of two boulders at him. Aqualad, always the quick-thinker, jumped in front of Roy and sliced in it half. Roy sent a smoke arrow towards Brick, and as he coughed Aqualad turned to Roy. "The cave is perfect, it has everything the team will need." We had been spending the better part of an hour trying to convince Roy to join the team, telling him all about what had happened at Cadmus.

Rob and I jumped over towards them, landing next to Roy gently. "For covert missions, y'know, spy stuff!"

I laughed, "it's going to be great, Roy. We'll sneak around and work together like we've always wanted to!"

Kid ran towards us, landing on the loading crate with a flip, "and wait until you see Superboy and Miss Martian! But I saw her first!"

I rolled my eyes, over the past week or so, Wally had been hanging off M'gann like white on rice. She took it all in stride, good-natured as ever and I commended her for it. If I had to spend my days constantly being hit on I would actually kill him, I didn't have her patience. I gave Rob a "save me" look and he grinned, rolling his eyes in turn.

Brick seemed to be pissed that we were ignoring him, and grabbed another piece of the ground, flinging it at us. We all dove out of the way, with the exception of Aqualad who smashed the rock with his water-mace. Roy sent three arrows flying into Brick's chest, each exploding one at a time. The guy took them like punches, rolling back with each one when they should have shredded his abdomen. He chuckled, "tell Arrow he shouldn't send boys to do a man's job!" I growled, low in my throat but Roy seemed to take the comment straight to heart, tensing in anger. He drew another arrow and Brick stood up, spreading his arms wide. "Go ahead."

Roy let the arrow fly, but instead of exploding it started to release dark red foam on contact. I recognized it, having seen it used before and grinned. Brick wasn't going anywhere for a long-ass time.

Kid skidded over towards Roy, eyes bright. "High-density polyurethane foam, nice!" He gave Roy a thumbs up, who turned away from him.

Rob spoke up from where he was leaning on a loading crate, "so Speedy, you in?"

Roy paused, turning towards him, "pass." I blinked in surprise, I was expecting him to agree. I mean, what more could he want? I was especially taken aback at the tone of his voice, Roy had always been temperamental, but never this… dismissive. "I'm done letting Arrow and the League tell me what to do, I don't need a babysitter or a clubhouse hangout with the other kids." His voice was utterly scathing, "your junior Justice League is a joke. Something to keep you busy, and in your place." He said the last three words with conviction, ramming it home.

"What the hell, Roy?"

He was about to storm off, but I stopped him. I was sure as hell tired of stopping him from making dramatic exits. He simply raised an eyebrow in reply, "what the actual fuck is your problem? Ever since that day at the Hall you've been a moody asshole. What's wrong with you?"

He scoffed, "what's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? You were always clever, Cat. I would have expected you to figure out the League's game by now. What a disappointment." His tone was almost languorous, slow and methodical in him hurting me.

This time he faded into the shadows, and I stood baffled. Roy had never, never spoken to me like that in my life. Never. I felt my throat tighten but I absolutely refused to cry here, not in front of KF and Aqualad and certainly not over Roy. Rob seemed to understand and his hand found it's way to the small of my back. I leaned back slightly into his calming touch, and we all exchanged glances. Surely Roy was wrong?

* * *

 _ **GOTHAM**_

 _ **July 18, 15:01 EDT**_

* * *

I exited the bright yellow taxi and handed the cabbie a few bills. The large iron gates of Wayne Manor stood rather imposingly in front of me, but they had gained a friendly air in the years between when I was nine and now. They represented the more fun side of my double life, Bruce, and more importantly Dick. I walked up to the scanner in the side of it and presented the little security card I kept in my wallet and there was a beep and then a hum as the gates creaked open.

I walked up to the door and opened it without knocking. Closing it behind me, I made a beeline for Bruce's office. Hopefully he hadn't left yet and I could ask him where Tweedledee and Tweedledum were. I poked my head in the door and he looked up. "I'm here for the idiots, any idea where they are?"

"Living room, playing video games." I sent him a thumbs-up and turned to leave.

"Arabella?"

"Yeah?"

"Have fun. Tell Dick I said to behave," I turned to send him a warm smile. For all of Bruce's brooding, he cared about us. He might be emotionally detatched but he had his own way of showing affection.

I walked into the living room, A.K.A the room where we spent most of our time. It was large and more modernly decorated than the rest of the house. With an overly large flat screen TV and surround sound, it was kind of perfect for movie watching or video gaming. Dick and I usually studied in here too, on the large selection of chairs the room offered. I had a habit of dragging a beanbag chair over towards one of the sofas when we did our math homework so he could peer over my shoulder every once in awhile and correct me. "Alright losers, time to go."

They whipped around at the sound of my voice and Wally sprung up out of his chair, running at super speed towards me. He hit a vase on his way and I stuck my leg out, just catching it on the flat of my foot before it hit the floor. "Beautiful! It's been too long!" I was met with the scent of pine and boy, and kicked up the vase for Dick to catch before it met the fate I was trying to save it from.

"There's never enough time between interactions with you, ginger." I said as I removed myself from his grip.

"That hurts, right here," he gestured to his heart and I rolled my eyes.

"Time to go, we're gonna be late."

We made our way towards the door and Alfred handed the boys their jackets. "How are you today, Miss Williams?"

"Arabella," I corrected automatically, "and decent, though Sel tried to convince me to go to some spa retreat with her next weekend."

He laughed, "maybe some relaxation will do you good, having to deal with these two all day."

I grinned, "one of them's a delight most of the time. The other is going to cost Bruce millions in between food eaten and priceless antiquities smashed."

"Hey!" Wally called from over by the shoe closet and Dick gave Alfred a cheeky smile.

"Hear that Alfred? I'm a delight."

I turned towards him, eyebrow raised, "shush or I'm taking it back."

"No take-backs."

I rolled my eyes and opened the door, "come on or I'm leaving without you two."

* * *

 _ **MOUNT JUSTICE**_

 _ **July 18, 15: 16 EDT**_

* * *

As we entered, the computerized voice announced us.

 _Recognized, Robin, B-01. Recognized, Catgirl, B-02. Recognized, Kid Flash, B-03._

We walked in casually, exchanging equal looks of excitement. Hopefully there would be some sort of mission for us to go on. We rushed over to where Kaldur, M'gann and Superboy stood before a holographic computer like the one Rob had. It was displaying several maps, graphs and a keyboard.

"Did you ask him?"

"What did he say?"

I slapped them both upside the head for being so rude, "good afternoon, guys. How are you? Did Red Tornado say anything about a mission for us?"

M'gann was stifling giggles behind her hand and Kaldur had a small smile. Superboy was of course, as stoic as ever. "He's arriving now," Kaldur answered.

Wally turned excitedly to Dick, "then what are we waiting for?" They both took off towards the loading bay and we followed, albeit at a much slower pace. As we approached the entrance to the bay, it popped open and slid down, revealing a handy ramp for us to walk up. As we did so, Red Tornado arrived down from the sky, cape fluttering behind him as he controlled his descent. The wind from his, ahem, tornado sent my hair flying back and made my shirt flap slightly. Wally waved, "Red Tornado!"

He landed with a small thump, "greetings. Is there a reason you intercept me outside the Cave?"

"We hoped you had a mission for us," Kaldur explained.

"Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility."

Dick stepped forward, "but it's been over a week and-"

Red Tornado cut him off, "you will be tested soon enough. For the time being, simply enjoy each other's company."

I crossed my arms, slightly pissed off. We had been waiting around forever to get an assignment, and Roy's words from last night certainly didn't reassure me. "This team is not a social club," Kaldur said.

"No, but I am told social interaction is an important team-building exercise. Perhaps you can keep busy by familiarizing yourself with the Cave." I flinched at his wording, almost a mirror to what Roy had said last night.

He left, and Wally socked Dick in the arm, "keep busy."

"Does he think we're falling for this?" He exclaimed.

M'gann's eyes lit up, "oh! I'll find out!" She turned to Red Tornado, and she seemed to relax completely, eyes losing all their focus. We waited, the tense silence only broken by the computer. _Recognized, Red Tornado, 1-6._ M'gann dropped her head with a sigh, "I-I'm sorry, I forgot he's a machine. Inorganic, I, cannot read his mind."

"Nice try though!" Wally reassured her, "so uh, y'know what I'm thinking right now?"

Rob scoffed, "we all know what you're thinking now." He elbowed Wally in the back.

I spun Wally around, giving him a feral smile. "If you make M'gann uncomfortable, I will make it so that you lose the ability to procreate. Comprend-tu?" He nodded, slightly fearful and I smiled wider, flinging my arm around M'gann's shoulders. "Ignore him, I'll keep him in line."

She nodded, seeming shy but thankful for the offer. Kaldur raised his eyes from where they had fallen to the grass, "and now we tour the clubhouse." I bit down on my own anger, leaving it to simmer in my gut. Not healthy, or in any way good for whoever I would end up unleashing it on but better that then me storming my way to Wayne enterprises and demanding that Bats give us an explanation.

M'gann had moved from my hold, hands folded primly in front of her. "Well, Superboy and I live here, we can play tour guides."

We turned to him for confirmation, "don't look at me."

"We won't," Wally answered rapidly, turning back to look at M'gann moony-eyed. "A private tour sounds much more fun."

I narrowed my eyes and Rob spoke for me, "she never said private!"

"Team-building," Kaldur said, "we'll all go." I gave him an appreciative smile, and he smiled back. I was happy he had sort of become our mediator, settling arguments before they could even arise.

M'gann led us back into the cave and I raised an eyebrow as Rob shoved Wally's arm so he could be closer to Miss M. Honestly the two of them were going to drive me up the damn wall. M'gann gestured to the loading bay entrance, "so this would be our front door…"

We finally came to another hole in the mountain, where the flat rock extended for a few feet before becoming a steep drop. This side of the mountain faced the ocean and I let out a small sigh of contentment as the salty scent filled my nose. "The Cave is actually the entire mountain!" M'gann chirped. We turned around and headed back towards the loading bay.

"It was hollowed out and reinforced by Superman and Green Lantern in the early days of the League." Wally said as we glanced around. There was a large pool of water that I assumed was for boats.

I raised my eyebrows at him, "and to think you wanted a private tour, you seem to know more than M'gann." He flushed, and Rob gave me a high-five, eyes shining with mischief.

"Why abandon it for the Hall of Justice?" Superboy asked.

"The Cave's secret location was… compromised." Kaldur responded.

"So they traded it in for a tourist trap? Yeah, that makes sense."

M'gann's eyes filled with worry, hand on her cheek, "if villains know of the cave, we must be on constant alert!"

I smiled fondly at her naivete, she was older than me and yet still so innocent. Dick moved forward, grabbing her hand in his own, "the bad guys know we know they know about the place, so they'd never think to look here." A small bubble of irritation joined the rest of my bottled up anger. At this point the annoying-ness of Dick and Wally's obvious attempts at M'gann's affections should have worn off. But they hadn't and I was this close to sitting them down and giving them a lecture on propriety. It was weird though, them hitting on girls never annoyed me before, but that was probably because there was usually a guy or two for me to chat up alongside them.

Wally moved up, placing his hand on M'gann's as well. "He means we're hiding in plain sight." Dick pulled back, shooting Wally a glare.

M'gann nodded, "ah. That's, much clearer." She scratched her head, other hand on her hip and I felt bad for her. Honestly, having to be subjected to teenage boys not-so-subtly fighting over her when she was new to the freaking planet. Who knows if they even have the term "hiding in plain sight" on Mars?

Superboy sniffed rather loudly, "I smell smoke."

M'gann jolted, gasping in horror, "my cookies!"

She flew off and we followed her, heading towards the kitchen. As we entered she was telekinetically lifting the cookies out of the oven. They were burnt black, and the smell was invasive even without an enhanced nose. I pitied Superboy who was angling himself upwind from it. M'gann looked unbelievably put-out, "I was trying out Grammy Jones' recipe from episode seventeen of-" she trailed off with a small, awkward laugh. "Never mind!"

"I bet they'd have tasted great," Dick said encouragingly, "he doesn't seem to mind."

Looking towards Wally, who was happily munching on the burnt cookies I laughed quietly. The boy would eat anything so long as it had at least a calorie in it. He looked around awkwardly, "I… have a serious metabolism?"

I swatted the cookie out of his hand, "stop that, you'll get cancer."

He rolled his eyes, "I sincerely doubt there's enough carcinogens in this to give me cancer."

"I sincerely doubt there's enough carcinogens in one cigarette to give me cancer either, does that mean I'm going to smoke one? No."

He sighed, "buzzkill. But these are good, even if they're a little burnt."

"I'll… make more?" M'gann offered confusedly.

"It was sweet of you to make any," Aqualad reassured.

"Thanks Aqualad."

"We're off duty, call me Kaldur'ahm. Actually, my friends call me Kaldur."

"I'm Wally," the ginger said dreamily, "see I already trust you with my secret identity. Unlike Mr. Dark Glasses over here. Batman's forbidden Boy Wonder from telling anyone his real name." Well to be fair, Dick's secret identity revealed Batman's very quickly to anyone who wasn't as stund as a box of rocks.

I snorted, "see I was gonna say that you haven't really, given that she only has your first name. But then again, how many obnoxious teenage boys have red hair and a name like _Wallace_."

Dick laughed, stretching out for a high-five while Wally narrowed his eyes and the rest of the team looked confused. "Our friendship mainly consists of making fun of each other, he makes fun of the fact I'm short and temperamental all the time too." I explained, and M'gann and Kaldur nodded slowly. I turned back to Wally, "I would also like to point out that I trusted her with my SID first."

He pouted and I patted him on the cheek, "there there. Someday you'll meet a girl with low standards who'll think you're amazing."

He swatted my hand away, "says you, Miss-I've-Never-Even-Been-On-A-Date."

I smirked, "I've got one tonight, actually."

Dick turned to me, eyebrow raised, "when did that happen?"

I shrugged, "James Turner asked me on Wednesday."

"And you didn't tell me?"

"I was planning on it, just slipped my mind, believe it or not, it's not the most important thing on my mind right now." I gestured to the Cave.

I had won, but the grumpy look on his face told me that this wasn't over. M'gann turned to me, "you know Robin's secret identity though? And you knew Wally's?"

I nodded, "yeah that's kind of how I got into the superhero thing. Long story short, we've been best friends since we were nine. And Wally got into the gig a little while after Rob and I met so we've all known each other since we were kids."

M'gann blinked, "oh wow, that's a long time. At least I think it is? I don't really know how humans age."

"We measure how old we are by how many years we've been alive, and a year is the time it takes for Earth to make one full lap around the sun. We measure it off the day we were born, so every October thirtieth I get a year older. Rob and I are thirteen almost fourteen, Wally's fifteen," I turned to Kaldur, "you're sixteen, I believe?" He nodded and I continued, "going off the info at Cadmus, Superboy's biologically sixteen but he's technically like seventeen weeks old."

M'gann nodded slowly, trying to process. "Going by Earth standards then, I'm forty-eight." My head never whipped around so fast. Wally choked on his cookie and Rob thumped him on the back. M'gann seemed confused, "did I say something wrong?"

I shook my head vehemently, "no not at all. Just wasn't expecting that, you look about Kaldur or Superboy's age. And we're ignorant teenagers who think anything above thirty is ancient, oh my god you're _forty-eight_?"

"Yes, I think Martians have longer lifespans than humans, I'm still considered young there. You're correct, I think humans would consider me sixteen biologically." The cheer that she said that with hopefully indicated I hadn't offended her.

"So your name is M'gann?" Kaldur asked.

"Mmhm! M'gann M'orzz! But you can call me Megan, it's an Earth name, and I'm on Earth now." Her tone was bubbly and she seemed unbelievably excited to be here, I wondered if I would feel the same way about dropping everything I've ever known and going to live on Mars. Something told me there was more to the story than she was telling, and her life back on Mars was worth leaving.

Superboy kicked off the wall, turning to leave. M'gann's voice filtered through into my mind and I recoiled. It was like the sound was being beamed into my brain and I was shot back to the night we spent under Cadmus. _"Don't worry, Superboy. We'll find you an earth name too."_

I didn't like this, and from the expression on Superboy's face he didn't either. I could feel M'gann in my head, an invasive presence on the edge of my mind, if she pushed she could comb through it, know everything I've ever experienced, anything I've ever thought-

I shuddered and heard Superboy yell, "get out of my head!" We turned to M'gann, who wore a shocked expression, thoroughly confused.

She continued to speak in our minds and I hissed under my breath, _"what's wrong? I- I don't understand. Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically."_

Kaldur raised his head, "M'gann, stop." I felt her recoil, and suddenly she was gone. I relaxed slightly, god that was uncomfortable as all hell. "Things are different on Earth," Kaldur continued, "here your powers are an extreme invasion of privacy."

I tried to smile at her, "I know it's not what you're used to, but for us it's really uncomfortable. And it hurts."

I laid a comforting hand on her shoulder and Wally opened his big fat mouth, "besides, Cadmus' creepy little psychic G-Gnomes left a bad taste in his brain," he pointed to Superboy.

M'gann's eyes widened, "I- I didn't mean to-"

Superboy cut her off. "Just. Stay. Out."

He stormed off and M'gann hung her head. I was absolutely livid, "Wally I swear to god I am going to hang you off the Wayne Tower by your balls."

"What did I do?!"

"Maybe bringing up someone else's trauma so casually isn't the smartest thing to do? She was already digging around in his brain, you had no idea if Superboy wanted her to know about that, it's his story to tell. And if you make one more pathetic wisecrack in an attempt to win the affections of a girl who clearly doesn't give a shit, I'm going to bash your goddamn head in."

M'gann looked like she felt even worse, if that was possible. And Wally looked properly cowed. Suddenly M'gann's face lit up and she hit herself on the forehead, "hello, Megan! I know what we can do!"

She flew off and I turned to Rob, who shrugged. We followed her down the hall and I was still pissed off. Clearly Superboy had a lot on his mind, and Wally wasn't helping anything. I felt Rob's hand on the small of my back as he leaned over to talk to me, "you really laid into Wally there."

I narrowed my eyes, "he deserved it. How dare he? I really don't get why his number one, go-to plan when shit goes wrong is to add insult to injury."

"That's not it and you know it, he tries to lighten the mood with humor, but because his jokes are insensitive so often he ends up pissing someone off."

"Yeah well he should learn to reign himself in."

He grinned, "but then he wouldn't really be the Wally we know and love, would he?"

I noticed M'gann had turned back, probably to talk to Superboy and I kept walking towards the elevator. We waited for them and took it to the hangar, and as the doors opened, I spotted a red and black egg-shaped… thing. M'gann gestured proudly, "it's my Martian Bioship!"

"Cute!" Wally complimented, "not aerodynamic, but cute."

She smiled warmly, "it's at rest, silly. I'll wake it."

I watched with curious eyes, and as she raised her hand the ship went from being egg-shaped to looking badass as all hell and three or four times the size. M'gann flicked her wrist and it spun, revealing a door that transformed into ramp for us to walk up. The way it changed form almost looked like melting chocolate, and I was utterly mystified. I knew Martian's telepathic abilities allowed them to progress far beyond humanity, but this was something else.

M'gann took a few steps towards the ramp and looked back at us, "well? Are you coming?"

Somewhat apprehensively, we walked into the ship. As we entered, it transformed into a control room-esque style cockpit and I grinned at Rob before taking a seat.

"Strap in for launch," M'gann said and I couldn't help but notice that she sounded almost nervous. As I sat, X-shaped seat belts formed over me and I had to stifle a gasp. This Martian technology was blowing my mind, and sure as hell would take some getting used to.

M'gann sat in the large pilot's chair and looked out through the front window, "Red Tornado, please open the bay doors." They slid open and two shining balls appeared beneath M'gann's outstretched hands. Without warning, the Bioship shot off and I had to stop my jaw from dropping.

"Incredible!" Rob said and Wally sighed.

"She sure is." M'gann turned her head to him and he proceeded to stumble over himself, "I mean, the ship. Which, like all ships is a she."

I felt a fond smile tug at my lips and I turned my seat, which swung like a desk chair, to face Wally. "Advice from one of them, when giving a girl a compliment just go with it instead of backtracking five seconds later when you get embarrassed."

He scowled and Rob snickered, "fast with his feet, not so much with his mouth."

"Dude!"

"Speaking of which though," I continued, "you talk about the ship like it's a person."

"Well it's not a person," M'gann said warmly, "but it is somewhat sentient, so I can control it with my powers. I couldn't explain the technology, but the ship is made of organic material, so I can control it with my powers."

I nodded, and due to my lovely hearing extensions I caught Kaldur whispering to Superboy. I rolled my eyes, ignoring Rob blatantly leaning forward in his chair. "I may not have psychic powers," Kaldur murmured, "but I can guess what you're thinking. You overreacted and you don't know how to apologize. Just say sorry."

A small burst of warmth exploded in my chest, honestly this kid was the most mature out of all of us, and I was infinitely grateful that he was our mediator. Superboy averted his eyes and Rob leaned over to whisper to M'gann. "He'll come around."

"He doesn't seem to like me much."

"You guys remember he has super-hearing, right?"

I rolled my eyes, "yeah he's not the only one, and this is a tiny-ass room. Honestly."

There was a few seconds of awkward silence and then Rob perked up, "hey, how about showing us a little Martian shapeshifting?"

M'gann stood, and within seconds she had transformed into a very feminine Robin, and then KF."

"Is it wrong that I think I'm hot?" Wally asked.

I narrowed my eyes, "yes. Very. Stop it."

Rob clapped, "impressive! But you know you're not exactly going to fool anyone with those."

"Mimicking boys is a lot harder," M'gann mumbled and I stood, the seat belt melting off me.

"Do me then silly."

She seemed almost hesitant and I nodded encouragingly. I blinked and then there was me in my uniform right in front of me, right down to the claws. My mouth dropped and I stepped closer, inspecting it.

She had gotten my suit right, stretchy cloth material that had a leather-esque finish, starting at my neck and going all the way down in one piece. Gleaming black claws and boots that flowed seamlessly into the leg of the jumper, a domino mask and dark red curly hair pulled back in a ponytail, and a bullwhip, exactly identical to mine curled at her hip. I was amazed.

"You even got the scar on my temple," I said, tucking my hair behind my right ear to reveal the perfect match.

She nodded, "what's that from by the way? It's an interesting crescent shape."

I was suddenly shot back to the dream I had last night, tensing. She seemed to have noticed that she hit a nerve and I immediately smiled to ease any guilt, "got cracked across the head with a bottle. I kind of hate it."

She violently shook her head, form melting back into herself. "No! It looks beautiful. Though I suppose you don't like the reminder of being injured."

I nodded, "thank you though. And that's hardcore amazing, you could fool my mother."

I looked up at Rob, and even with the sunglasses I could tell he had his 'are you okay?' face on. I nodded ever so slightly, pressing my lips together to say thank you. He have me a nearly imperceptible nod back before a large smile bloomed across his face, "nah, Cat'd know it wasn't you as soon as she opened her mouth."

M'gann had a mischievous twinkle in her eye, "are you sure?" Her face immediately switched to an intimidating glare and she cocked an eyebrow, "seriously dimwits?" Her voice sounded shockingly like mine and if M'gann wasn't quite possibly the physical embodiment of sunshine I'd be concerned about identity theft.

Rob whistled, "dang Belle, I'd say she has you in a corner."

"How do your clothes shift like that?" Kaldur asked and M'gann grinned.

"They're organic, like the ship! They respond to my mental commands."

"As long as they're the only ones," Superboy muttered. That guy had to put a lid on his angst because it was getting old real fast.

M'gann lowered her gaze and Wally spoke, "can you do that ghosting through walls thing Manhunter does?"

"Density shifting? No… it's a very advanced technique." She seemed put out.

Rob leaned towards her again, "Flash can vibrate his molecules right through a wall," he stifled laughter as he gestured to Wally, "when he tries it, bloody nose."

"Dude!"

I grinned, Rob had a knack for making people feel better and I was happy to see him try to cheer M'gann up. "What he's trying to say is that if we were as good as our mentors already, they wouldn't be our mentors." I smiled at her, "I'm sure that you'll get density shifting down eventually."

She smiled back, "here's something I can do!" Suddenly the wings outside the window disappeared and I realized we had turned invisible, "camouflage mode!"

Red Tornado's voice came over on the speakers, "Red Tornado to Miss Martian, an emergency alert has been triggered at the Happy Harbour Power Plant. I suggest you investigate. Covertly. I'm sending coordinates."

M'gann's expression immediately changed to one of absolute seriousness, "received. Adjusting course."

Rob scoffed, "Tornado's keeping us busy again." I bit my lip, Red Tornado was an android, meaning he was pretty emotionless. He wouldn't decide to keep us busy on his own, but maybe one of the other members of the Justice league asked him to.

"Well," M'gann said as the ship prepared for landing, "a simple fire led you to Superboy. We should find out what caused the alert."

I didn't really have the heart to tell her that Cadmus was on a completely different level than a power plant in a tiny New England town. But she did have a point, if there was an alert then something had to be off, and it was our duty to see what was up.

"I think I know the cause," Superboy said, looking out the right window and I saw a large tornado spinning across the parking lot. Right towards us. About to send the Bioship flying.

M'gann looked even more determined as it hit us, and ship started spinning wildly. I held on to the sides of my chair and tried not to puke. She flew us out of the storm, landing the poor Bioship in the parking lot and a hatch opened up, dropping us out of the bottom of the ship.

We stood, analyzing the situation. The tornado was ripping up the sides of the power plant, and the distant sound of people screaming set me on edge. Kaldur stepped forward some, "Robin, are tornadoes common in New England?" There was no answer and we turned to find that he had disappeared. Again.

I pressed the little emerald eye on my snake armband, snarling as I walked forward. "God I hate it when he does that." The armband began to expand, curling out into an entirely flexible whip.

Rob's laugh echoed out across the parking lot and M'gann looked around confused, "he- he was just here."

The windows started to blow out of the sides of the plant and I sighed, "yeah, he takes off quite frequently. Judging by the explosions, he's inside."

I saw a large, red robot use a tornado to slam Rob against a pillar as we entered the plant. Superboy leapt, landing next to him, "who's your new friend?"

"Didn't catch his name, but he plays kind of rough!" He called out after him as Superboy sped towards the robot. I sighed, outstretching my hand to help him up.

"See what happens when you take off on us?"

He dusted himself off, "yeah, yeah."

"My apologies," the robot boomed, "you may address me as Mister Twister."

He sent two mini tornadoes our way and I dodged, running around to his side, "oh man, nobody told you that having a rhyming villain name is so last year? You should pick up How To Be Evil Weekly, it'll help with your dreadful sense of style too. Are you going for a western vibe with the tattered scarf covering your mouth?"

Slamming Superboy into the wall, he turned to face me, "I don't much care for your mouth, girl."

I gave my whip an experimental flick, "yeah not too many people do. Truth hurts. Tell me, what's an asshole like you doing in a tiny power plant like this?"

I was met with a face full of twister, the wind sending flying up into the ceiling and back down. I heard my ribs make a rather unfortunate cracking noise and groaned, "these just started feeling better!"

I got to my feet, Wally slid on his goggles and we exchanged a five-way glance. Kaldur nodded and we took off. Wally got sent flying out the door, M'gann and Kaldur got blown back and I could see Rob hiding a birdarang behind his back.

"I was prepared to be challenged by a superhero," Mr. Twister drawled, "I was not however expecting children."

I growled, my fingers tightening around my whip. This thing was asking for an ass-kicking, and he was going to get one. "We're not children!" Rob yelled as he flung two birdarangs in MT's direction.

The first exploded against the air, and the second sunk into his chest for about five seconds before he flicked it away from himself, the explosion missing him by a few feet. "Objectively you are. Have you no adult supervision? I find your presence here quite… disturbing."

"Well we hate to see you disturbed," Robin spat, "let's see if you're more turbed once we kick your can!"

M'gann sent the cylinder over Mr. Twister's head falling down, and Superboy took the opportunity to leap at him. He was sent flying backwards, hitting M'gann in mid-air. We charged him, and I found myself caught in a tornado, being flung around in circles. He smacked Rob, Kaldur and I together and I tried to sit up, holding my head. My brain felt bruised, and constructing thoughts seemed like a Herculean effort.

If he had a mouth, Mr. Twister would have smirked, "indeed. That was quite turbing. Thank you."

I snarled, climbing to my feet as quickly as possible. I was met with Wally flying towards us as we exited, and M'gann held out her hand, holding him in one place. "I got you Wally!"

"Thanks!"

"I would've thought you had all learned your limitations by now," MT said.

"Y'know, I'm getting real tired of this guy's tone," I muttered and Kaldur stepped forward, spreading his arms.

"What do you want?!"

"Isn't it obvious?" Mr. Twister asked as he flew upwards, "I'm waiting for a real hero."

Kaldur turned to M'gann, "read his mind. Find a weakness."

M'gann looked flustered, "I- I thought I wasn't supposed to do that?"

"It's okay with the bad guys!" Rob yelled.

She closed her eyes, hand flying to her temple, "nothing… I'm getting nothing!" Suddenly she looked up, "hello, Megan! Mr. Twister is Red Tornado in disguise! He's inorganic, an android. How many androids do you know that can generate tornadoes?"

I pressed my lips together, it might make sense. But there was still loose ends, it didn't altogether fit. "Red Tornado sent us here!" Kaldur said.

"After saying we'd be tested soon enough? This is his test! Something to keep us busy" Rob snarled and I shook my head.

"But why would he test us? What does he gain?"

"Who cares?" Wally asked, "Speedy called it, we're a joke."

Kaldur punched his open palm in frustration and they started to move towards the android. "This game? So over." Wally muttered, and I hesitantly followed them. Something wasn't right.

"We know who you are and what you want," Rob accused.

Kaldur continued, "so let's end this."

"Consider it ended," MT growled, he stretched his arms skyward, double twisters spinning from them and turning the sky a dark gray as a gale whipped around us.

"Guys! I'm serious, Red Tornado's an android just like this guy, and clearly this guy has an objective-"

Wally cut me off, "yeah, to test us because he's Red Tornado in disguise!"

"Red Tornado had to open the bay doors, remember? That has to be done from inside the Cave! We were up in the air for maybe three minutes. You're telling me he had time to get inside this hunk of metal, attach what he needed to attach, fling a dirty rag around his neck and then get over here in time for him to already be here when we were arriving? No, it's too much. Occam's Razor, the simplest answer with the least assumptions is the best and most correct answer. This is an entirely new guy who happens to have tornado powers that's here to wreak havoc for some reason."

Lightning flashed in the sky, and Wally jabbed his thumb at it, "can, uh, can Red Tornado do that?"

"It appears the smart-mouthed girl is the smartest of you. You think I'm Tornado, ironic." A giant bolt of lightning hit the ground in front of us, and I felt myself start flying backwards. I heard my head hit the ground with a thunk, and through the haze I could see Superboy launch himself at MT again, only to be directly hit with lightning, fall to the ground and skid across the grass to lie a few feet away from me.

Mr. Twister floated downwards, lightning crackling at his fingertips and I felt something glide in front of me, an invisible wall blocking my view of him. The Bioship. "Fine. I won't deny that you children have power, but playing hide-and-seek with you will not help me achieve my objectives. So stay concealed. Confront me again, I will show you no mercy."

"What happened?" Wally asked groggily.

"I placed the Bioship between us-"

She was cut off by Superboy punching the shit out of some rocks he had unearthed due to the ditch he dug as he skidded across the ground. "And that's supposed to make it right? You tricked us into thinking Twister was Red Tornado!"

I was about to rip him to fucking pieces in the form of the English language when Kaldur interrupted him, "she didn't do it on purpose."

"It- it was a rookie mistake. We shouldn't have listened. Arabella was right," Rob protested.

"You are pretty inexperienced," Wally said, hands shoved in his pockets. "Hit the showers, we'll take it from here."

"Stay out of our way," Superboy growled.

She looked heartbroken, and I laid a hand on her shoulder, kneeling down to murmur to her. "Hey, you jumped to what could have been a logical conclusion while you were stressed out and your life was being threatened. Remember what I said about not being as good as our mentors? It's all a learning curve. I messed up plenty when I first started too, and I learned from my mistakes. I can't count the number of times I rushed into things without thinking and almost got killed for it. They're being a little harsh, but I think they're upset that they fell for the idea too. And when you're in our line of work, any criticism will always be harsh. It's what keeps you alive."

She nodded, and she looked like she was trying not to cry. Superboy, Rob and KF took off, and she hung her head. "I was just trying to be a part of the team."

"To be honest," Kaldur said, "I'm not really sure we are a team." I looked at him, and we exchanged sorrowful gazes. Then we left, M'gann still looking down at the grass.

Mr. Twister was tearing the place apart, boats smashing into the ground and buildings ripping to pieces. "Surely this will get the required attention."

"You got ours!" Wally shouted, running headlong towards him, "full and undivided!"

"As much as I would love to run at this guy and get blown backwards five million times, is anyone else catching on to the fact a direct approach isn't working?" I hissed, clutching at my poor ribs. They still ached, given that they had been badly bruised and even a little cracked during our stint at Cadmus.

Wally side-kicked him, sending the android skidding backwards a few feet. "Immaterial and insufficient! You are a distraction I can no longer tolerate!"

"Ooh, fancy words, do you know what they mean?" I asked, the dim light coming from the sunset glinting off the silver of my whip.

"Of course I do!"

Superboy jumped down from the air. He would have landed directly on MT if he hadn't floated backwards. He shot a twister at him, but it was sloppy. We ran forwards, and I danced around the twisters he was flinging. He sent Kaldur flying into what looked to be a historical house and I winced. Rob flung mini grenades at him, but they were easily disposed of. Superboy apparently hadn't caught onto the 'charging right at him isn't working' thing, and got tossed into the air, quickly followed by a speedboat.

The entire house collapsed.

"Okay, maybe we should be trying to avoid property damage, yeah?"

"Easier said than done when you're dealing with a walking natural disaster!" Rob hissed as he ran past me and I followed, eyes raking over Mr. Twister in an attempt to formulate a plan.

"It seems like those tubes are necessary somehow, if I can get close enough to unscrew it maybe we can knock him out of commision!"

"Good plan!" We crouched behind a wrecked boat and Wally ran up next to us as Rob pulled his utility belt out of god knows where.

"You brought your utility belt?" Wally asked.

"Never leave home without it. First thing Batman taught me."

"Yeah, right after never go to the bathroom without it."

"Boys, let's save the snark for the flying twister robot who's currently tearing Happy Harbour apart, hm?" I suggested.

I was trying to formulate an attack pattern when I felt M'gann's presence in my head again. Except this time she was joined by the rest of the team. The sensation was hard to describe, it was like having a imaginary chat room in your head but the voices sounded like they were being directly transmitted to my brain in a way the best earbuds could never achieve. " _Listen to me, all of you!_ "

" _What did we tell you?_ " Superboy snarled.

" _I know!_ " She exclaimed, " _and I know I messed up. But now I'm very clear on what we need to do. Please, trust me!_ "

"Why should we trust you when all you've done is mislead us?" Superboy asked.

" _Hey!_ " I interjected, " _she tried her best, and you're going to have to get a fucking handle on your angst before I go nuclear on your ass. Kaldur, you said earlier you didn't know if we were even a team, and you're right. This far, we've been acting like a bunch of separate heroes who happen to be fighting the same guy. That ends here. M'gann clearly knows something we don't, and she is my teammate. From now on I'm giving her the same trust with my life as I've given Rob or even KF on occasion, because we're a team. And being a team means trusting each other, and getting over stupid shit that's happened to us to fight a common enemy. I don't give a flying fuck what you think of M'gann, Superboy. But she is a part of this team, so you need to put your big boy pants on and suck it up. Now M'gann, what's this plan?_ "

* * *

I positioned myself carefully, watching the sky as 'Red Tornado' made his descent. "Hit the showers, kids. I was hoping you could handle this, clearly, you cannot." I held back a smirk, M'gann was probably having so much fun using that line.

Rob spread his arms in a pleading gesture, "but we've got a plan now!"

"The subject is not up for debate."

We walked away, making a show out of looking disappointed. I kept my ears strained for any movement behind me. "I was beginning to believe you'd never show up," Mr. Twister drawled.

"I am here now." 'Red Tornado' outstretched his hand 'making a cyclone'. "We are evenly matched, Twister!"

"No Tornado, we are not!" MT counteracted with his own twister, shooting a beam of lightning at 'Red Tornado'.

He appeared to fall to the ground, short-circuiting. Mr. Twister stood next to him, gazing downwards. "Remain still, android." What looked to be usb plugs curled from his fingers and attached to RT's head. "The reprogramming won't take long."

M'gann grabbed the cords, her face changing back to that of her regular form, "longer than you might think."

"No…"

"Oh you'd better believe it buddy," I said as I curled my whip around his torso, flinging him back into Wally's makeshift tornado. He sped past M'gann straight towards Superboy. "Damn it feels good to send him flying for once," I murmured, stretching an arm to help M'gann up.

Superboy proceeded to punch and kick the shit out of him, making several holes in the metal and sending him backwards into the harbour. Him exploding out of the water told me that Kaldur had done his part and he hit the ground with a thud. From there, M'gann pulled him up into the air and tore his arms off, two birdarangs via Robin later and he was on his knees, armless and short-circuiting.

We stood in front of him, and out fell… a man? That couldn't be right, M'gann should've been able to read his mind then, shouldn't she? He rose his head from the dirt, "foul, I- I call foul."

M'gann turned, raising a large boulder off the ground, Kaldur rushed towards her as she dropped it on the man, "M'gann no!"

I was caught somewhere between horror and confusion, Rob stalked towards her and she met him with a cool expression, "don't know how things are done on Mars, but on Earth we don't execute our captives!"

I waited, holding my breath to see if what I suspected was the case. M'gann raised an eyebrow, "you said you trust me." She raised her hand, the boulder shaking and rising. I looked through my fingers, half-expecting to see blood, guts and bones, and breathed a sigh of relief when all that resided in the crater was mechanical parts.

I walked towards her, "I knew it! I knew he wasn't human, Martian powers can't be restricted by metal like Kryptonian ones are by lead. Even if he was human inside of that suit, you should have been able to read his mind."

She smiled, "thank you, Catgirl. For believing in me."

I grinned, "what are teammates for? Besides, in this sea of testosterone we girls have to stick together."

Wally walked forward, plucking a metal eyeball off the ground, "cool! Souvenir!"

"We should have had more faith in you," Kaldur said, resting his hand on M'gann's shoulder.

She smiled up at him and Wally grinned, "yeah! You rocked this mission. Get it? Rocked?"

I facepalmed, shaking my head. "Ignore him," Robin said, "we're all just turbed you're on the team."

"Thanks, me too." M'gann smiled shyly and a weird sensation, like irritation and worry had an unpleasant baby, twinged in my stomach. I chalked it up to my intuition telling me something was off here.

"Why don't we go back to the Cave and tell Tornado about this? Something tells me that we've only seen the tip of the iceberg."

"Sounds like a plan," Kaldur said.

* * *

 _ **MOUNT JUSTICE**_

 ** _July 18, 18:09_**

* * *

"It was clearly created to sabotage or destroy you," Kaldur murmured, staring down at the pieces of the android we brought back.

"Agreed," Red Tornado said, standing stiffly. Though I guess there's no other way he can stand.

"Is that why you wouldn't help us?" M'gann asked.

"No," he said rather matter-of-factly, "this was your battle. I do not believe it's my role to solve your problems for you," he looked down at the pieces, "nor should you solve mine for me.

We all looked up at him and M'gann stuttered, "b-but if you're in danger?"

"Consider this matter closed," Red Tornado turned from her, walking away.

"Batman, Aquaman and Flash, they'd of jumped right in to fix things," Wally noted.

"Guess if we're gonna have a babysitter, a heartless machine is exactly what we need," Rob said.

"Dude! Harsh!"

"And inaccurate," Red Tornado commented, "I have a heart, carbon-steel alloy," he paused, turning around, "I also have excellent hearing."

Rob looked somewhat ashamed, "right, sorry, I'll strive to be… more accurate."

"And," Kaldur said dropping in next to him, "more respectful."

Red Tornado left and we started walking towards the living room, "Speedy was so wrong," I could practically hear the smirk in Wally's voice.

"This team thing?" Rob said.

"Might just work out," Kaldur affirmed.

I stuck around to see what was on the go with Miss M and Superboy for a minute, they faced each other, and a few seconds of awkward silence later he looked up, "sorry."

She smiled, and I walked away. I found the boys in the kitchen scrounging around for food and I shook my head fondly, "do you think about anything else than food?"

"What else is there to think about?" Wally asked.

Kaldur looked at the clock with a frown, "Arabella?"

"Hmm?"

"Didn't you say you had some sort of date tonight?"

"Yeah, why?"

"What time were you supposed to meet this James boy?"

I looked over at the clock and immediately my expression switched to one of horror. There wasn't a time difference between New England and Gotham, and it was six-fifteen, which meant I had forty-five minutes to get home and make myself look like I hadn't been fighting a tornado robot for the whole day.

"Gotta go, bye!"

I sprinted to the Zeta Ports, practically flinging myself into the one that lead to Gotham. I passed M'gann on the way and I waved to her, "sorry, running late for something!"

I made it back to the fake apartment Selina had set up for us in case of situations where I had to bring civilians somewhere I lived, to find her waiting on the couch with wine and a book.

She looked up at me, utterly unphased. "You are so lucky I'm here because you look like you just got tossed around in a tornado for an hour."

"Actually, it was much longer than an hour."

"You know what, I don't want to know. Go shower, quickly. I'll grab something for you to wear."

I dashed off to the bathroom, "remember that this is supposed to be casual! And no heels!"

Ten minutes later I was clean, and I popped into my 'bedroom' to find a rather simple outfit consisting of a white v-neck shirt tucked into light-wash boyfriend jeans, and we managed to compromise on black leather booties instead of heels or flats. She did my makeup, expertly hiding any and all bruises as I braided my wet hair to the side in a fishtail. By the time we were done I looked effortlessly pretty in the way only Sel could pull from me. I hugged her and she passed me a black moto-jacket to throw on, and she gave me a credit card that I tucked into a black clutch-esque purse on a delicate silver chain.

As soon as I did that, the doorbell rang and I went to open it, revealing James Turner. He seemed nice enough, and I was bored to the point that when he had come up to me on the lawn and asked if I wanted to catch dinner with him in a romantic sense I had agreed.

He did everything he was supposed to do, asked if Selina was my older sister (which, actually he could have been genuinely curious. She didn't look a day over twenty-five.) Brought a freaking rose, and fielded Selina's not-so-subtle questions with the perfect amount of charm and good humor, but I had to fight not to shake his hand off the small of my back. It felt strangely unnatural.

Maybe this would be fun.

I was about thirty minutes into this date and already bored to tears. All he seemed to be able to talk about was irrelevant school drama, how much he hated each and every single one of his teachers and the football team.

I excused myself to go to the bathroom and texted Babs, telling her to call me in three minutes because otherwise I was going to die of sheer boredom. I sat back down, taking a large pull of my lemon water and I could have cried with happiness when I heard my ringtone. "Sorry, I've got to take this."

I put the phone to my ear and Babs was cackling. I restrained my frustration and put on a shocked face, "what do you mean he's missing?"

She paused her laughter at my expense to berate me, "I told you not to go with him, I told you he seemed like a self-absorbed douchebag and what was he? A self-absorbed douchebag."

"Oh my god, I'm on my way right now. Stay right where you are." I dashed back to the table, grabbing my purse and jacket. "I am so sorry, but there's an emergency I have to go."

"Is everything okay?"

"Uh, I don't know. But thank you, for the night." I practically ran out of the restaurant and I ended up at the run-down phone booth that served as my favorite Zeta Port in Gotham without really thinking about it. I instructed it to take me to the Cave, kind of hoping that everyone was still there it had only been about an hour and half, after all.

The automated voice I had affectionately nicknamed Glados announced my arrival, and I walked towards voices that sounded like they were coming from the living room.

The heels of my boots clicked against the flooring and the Team turned from what looked like a Mario Kart tournament. "Belle?"

I flung the clutch on the couch and slumped down against the cushions, "oh my god, Wally you're not missing out on anything. I promise."

He hissed, "that bad huh?"

I screwed my face up in the best imitation of James' 'my daddy could buy your life' smirk I could manage, dropping my voice into his fake-low raspiness, "I mean, Ms. Rowe is just such a bitch, right? Homework on the weekend? And she knows we have football practice. I won XYZ fucking medal that no one gives a shit about by the way, please let me fill your brain with more useless information, no I'm incapable of intelligent conversation. Books? What are books?"

I groaned, sinking my face into the pillow, my voice muffled by the cotton, "just suffocate me, honestly kill off the rest of my brain cells, it would be a mercy."

Rob snickered and I raised my face from the polyester to fling the pillow at his face. "Shut up. I'm serious, that had to be the most boring thirty minutes of my life, it was worse than one of Mr. Walsh's health nut tangents."

"That's what you get for agreeing to a date with James Turner of all people."

"Babs already gave me shit when I had to get her to call me to escape the horror that was that date. I swear, I can never eat Italian again."

He shook his head, throwing me a controller. "Come on, I'm going to kick your ass at Mario Kart."

"Oh it's on."

"I call Ara on my team!" Wally yelled.

"Fuck no, I'm on M'gann's."

"M'gann is on my team."

"No, I have to crush Rob's soul via the star power up, so we'll do boys versus girls."

"No fair!"


	4. Drop Zone

_**MOUNT JUSTICE**_

 _ **July 22, 18:37 EST**_

* * *

We were waiting for Batman to get his ass to the cave and brief us on our first real mission, and were insanely bored. Draped across varying items of furniture, we idly chatted amongst ourselves, but didn't really have much to say. I was lying sideways on the couch, legs flung over the armrest and head resting against the side of Rob's leg.

Suddenly M'gann perked up, "hello Megan! I totally forgot, do you guys know what these cards are?" She rooted through a drawer in the end table next to her, and came away with a pack of Uno.

I grinned slowly, "do we ever."

Wally looked mildly terrified, "M'gann if you know what's best for you, you're going to put those away and never bring them up again in those two's presence."

I sat up, exchanging a smirk with Dick. The both of us were insanely competitive, leading to us being a great team in partner games and brutal enemies in free-for-alls. "Did you win or did I last time?"

He grinned, "I do believe it was me."

"Oh that settles it, I'm kicking your ass."

Kaldur looked confused, "what's happening?"

I decided to explain, "okay, do you have card games in Atlantis?"

"Something similar, yes."

I went about explaining how to play to them, Rob and Wally interjecting whenever I forgot something or explained in a confusing way. Eventually M'gann clasped her hands together and squealed excitedly, "this is going to be so fun!"

I smiled as Wally circled the big 500 underneath my name, calling the game. "You were right M'gann, this was fun."

We had played three games, I won two and Dick one. He was currently pouting and I turned to him with a saccharine smile, tapping the side of his frown, "chin up, it's not your fault you're not as good as me. It's a difficult aspiration, I assure you."

He swatted my hand away and we jumped at the sound of Bat's voice, "it's nice to see your mother's instilled her own high sense of self-esteem in you as well."

I shrugged, "she's amazing and you know it. Do I need to bring up the time that-"

He cut me off with the infamous Bat-Glare and I gulped, shutting up. He looked like he was resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose, a gesture he often used to convey his annoyance with us. "Come along, you have a mission to do."

We exchanged a six-way glance and cleaned up as quickly as possible, dashing off towards where Bats had went, what I had dubbed as the Mission Room. We fell into a curved line facing the holo-screen Batman had up, which displayed a map with red markers, some information a bunch of graphs I couldn't understand. Stepping into my place beside Rob, I slipped into mission mode and schooled my face into a look of concentration and focus.

"Isla Santa Prisca. This island is the primary source of a dangerous and illegal neo-steroid. A strength-enhancing drug, sold under the street name Venom." The name was familiar, while it wasn't mass-marketed, it had a very loyal ring of users and while the drug itself wasn't addictive, the results were. I had seen scrawny men take it, beef up and they were so taken by this sense of power that they had to have it all the time.

"Infrared heat signatures indicate that their factory is still operating at full capacity, but all shipments of Venom have been inexplicably cut off. That's where this team comes in." I winced, not only was that suspicious as all hell, but I could imagine the chaos the lack of Venom would bring on the streets. Everyone would be scrambling for what was left, and it would no doubt result in gang wars and killings.

"This is a _covert_ , recon mission only. Observe and report, if the Justice League needs to intervene, it will. The plan requires two drop zones."

"So who's in charge?" Rob asked. I could see where this was going and I was fully prepared to spend the rest of the mission banging my head off of various hard surfaces.

Batman and Red Tornado looked at us, then at each other, and then back at us. "Work that out between you."

Dick nodded, smiling and I wanted to cry a little. His answer sounded a hell of a lot like avoiding the issue. We turned, leaving to go suit up and I stopped as Bats called out to me.

"Oh and Catgirl?" I turned, expecting him to chew me out for something I could barely remember. Instead, he looked vaguely uncomfortable. "Your mother says that if you come back from another mission with broken ribs she's going to have my head. And Robin's. So please refrain from your typical martyrdom?"

I felt half embarrassed, half loved and I shrugged, "I'll try. I mean, no promises, but I'll attempt."

M'gann looked confused as we walked away, "typical martyrdom?"

Wally groaned and Rob explained for me, "Belle has a nasty habit of jumping into the line of fire. Repeatedly. Usually to protect someone else."

"Be grateful, imagine what would have happened to you if I hadn't taken that hit in Hong Kong."

"I thought we agreed to never bring up Hong Kong again?"

"No, you agreed. I argued as you pulled me away from Cat before I could tell her the numerous ways we almost died."

"Does it look like I want her going all mama tiger on me? No."

* * *

 _ **CARIBBEAN SEA**_

 _ **July 22, 20:08 ECT**_

* * *

The Bioship held a tense silence as we flew across the Caribbean, broken only by M'gann informing us that we were approaching Santa Prisca. I pondered over the meaning of the name, whether there was actually a saint named Prisca or if there was some sort of english translation I was missing.

"Drop zone A in 30!" M'gann spoke, the sharpness of her tone making me jump slightly. Kaldur stood, the seatbelts and chair melting away from him as he prepared for the drop. I mouthed a quick "good luck" to him, and he sent me a thumbs up, tapping on his buckle thingy, which made his suit fade into 'covert mode', a.k.a, it turned black where it had been red.

"Ready."

M'gann nodded, "putting Bioship in camouflage mode."

I lived for this, the vibrating hum that seemed to flow freely inside the cabin of the ship. This was my second favorite part of missions, the adrenaline-inducing tingle right before we started. The first was directly after, when the objectives had been completed and we were safe, and I could swear I felt relief in every cell in my body.

The Bioship faded into the night, and the floor opened up beneath Kaldur as he executed a perfect dive into the ocean. About forty-five seconds later his voice came over on the comms, "heat and motion sensors are patched. Data is now on a continuous loop. Move in."

We flew over a section of land where the trees parted and came to a stop, "drop zone B."

Standing, I watched as M'gann directed clips from the ceiling and I hooked mine into my belt. Wally tapped his crest, the bright yellow of his suit fading to black. He turned to M'gann, "how cool is this?"

"Very impressive," she said, closing her eyes as her uniform changed shape, turning into a black jumpsuit. She settled her hands on her hips, as if she was showing off and I grinned slowly as I realized what had just happened.

"Hold up, was that, dare I say it, _sarcasm_ coming from your mouth?" I swiped at a fake tear, "my baby's all grown up."

Rob snickered and Wally, most likely in a desperate attempt to regain his cool, turned to Superboy. "Hey Supey, not too late to put on the new stealth tech!"

He crossed his arms, "no capes, no tights, no offense."

"It totally works for you," M'gann sighed dreamily, and I resisted the urge to facepalm. She immediately realized her slip-up, holding out her hands as if to placate him, "as in that you can totally do good work in those clothes." She finished with an awkward thumbs up and I was torn between laughing and cringing in secondhand embarrassment.

He turned away and she quickly folded her hood over her face, literally turning invisible. Unfortunately, before I could snark, a hole opened beneath me and I was rappelling down towards the ground. Landing with a soft thud, I released the clip and then frantically jumped out of the way before I met with a face full of Superboy.

When the dust cleared, he was standing smugly in a little crater, "knew I didn't need a line."

"And yet creating a _seismic event_ may not have helped us much with the covert!" Rob said, lifting himself off the ground and bringing out his holo-computer.

M'gann flew overhead, "Aqualad, drop B is go."

He crackled over on the comms, "head for the factory, I'll track your GPS and rendezvous ASAP."

"Roger that!" Rob affirmed, and we took off into the forest. Climbing up past a waterfall, and into a more forested area, I froze as I heard a sound in the distance. I turned to Superboy and we spoke in unison, "did you hear that?"

Wally craned his head to look at us, "uh, no. Wait, is this a super hearing thing?"

M'gann had the same dreamy look on her face, "you do have great ears."

This time I couldn't resist the urge to bury my face in my hands. She was so, so blatantly obvious, and both Superboy and Wally were so, so oblivious. It physically pained me and I turned to complain to Rob, only to find that he wasn't there.

This disappearing thing was starting to get on my nerves, he never took off this often in Gotham. Wally apparently shared my sentiments, "okay, Rob, now what?" Turning, he flung out his arms, "man I hate it when he does that."

He flipped back around to me, "okay, Cat, now what?"

I blinked, realizing that without Robin I was the default, 'most experience' person. "We quietly approach the source of the noise and try to figure out what's going on without alerting them to our position, duh."

"I agree," Kaldur said, "Superboy, Kid, switch to infrared, see if you're being tracked."

KF pulled down his goggles, and a few seconds later he took a small step forward, "got a squad of armed bozos incoming."

I blinked, realizing that Rob was out there by himself. Before I could go find him Superboy shook his head, "two squads. But they'll meet each other before they find us."

Almost instantly, the sound of gunfire filled the air and I could see little sparks of light from where it was coming from. "No superhearing needed now!" Wally called, walking forward some.

"Swing wide, steer clear!" Kaldur ordered over the comms, and I nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, yeah, just as soon as I find Rob," Kid said.

I blanched at the thought of him caught in the crossfire and followed Kid Flash, only to watch him slip several yards in front of me and fall sideways down a muddy hill. I took off after him, trying to use my whip to grab his arm but I couldn't get a hold of him. My vision turned a little gray as my contacts adjusted for low-light, letting me see in the dark.

From the edge of the treeline I could see KF land directly in front of one of the gunmen, and for a terrifying second I could imagine him riddled with bullet holes and bleeding to death. He raised his goggles, staring death in the eyes, "so much for the stealthy."

He dashed out of the line of fire, and Superboy barrelled past me, promptly punching the guy who shot at Kid in the face. I focused on using my whip to disarm people, knocking them out whenever I could. The guys on the left side were wearing strange uniforms, dark red cloaks with pointed hoods and black masks cut in the shape of fangs. My blood chilled as I realized who these people were, "so we're fucked. Like very, very fucked."

"What do you mean, Catgirl?" Kaldur asked.

"Besides the fact someone decided to jump in the middle of a gang war, these uniforms belong to Kobra cultists, and if he's on the island?" I shuddered, remembering the last time I had a run in with the guy. He looked almost like Voldemort, with no hair anywhere and pale, chalky skin. Batman could barely keep up with him one-to-one, his fighting skills were legendary and his cult was infamous for being violently loyal, willing to commit horrible atrocities if he asked.

"Let's take this one step at a time, disable this group of assailants and we'll go from there," Kaldur said. I appreciated the lack of soothing in his tone, and kicked another guy in the balls, coming up behind him and restricting his airway until he passed out.

Rob descended from the trees, landing a few feet away from me. "What is wrong with you guys? Remember covert? Why didn't you follow my lead, vanish into the jungle?"

"That's what you were doing?" Kid asked, "way to fill us in, we're not mind-readers you know!" He turned as M'gann telekinetically flung a guy into a tree, "er, I'm not, anyway."

"You told me I could only read the bad guy's minds!" M'gann said, clearly frustrated.

"Just them," I said, turning to Rob whilst shaking my head, "cut them some slack, will you? We just started working together, they're not going to clue in right away."

He seemed almost petulant, probably having expected me to agree with him. I knew why he wanted to lead, and even why that might be a good idea; but as of yet he had to realize how to work in a team format, instead of it just being him and Bats or the three of us.

I turned at the sound of one of the cultists running away, only to be alerted to Aqualad's presence by the blue crackling light in the distance. He walked towards us, and M'gann waved. Setting about tying up the cultists and whoever the other guys were, we laid them around two opposing tree trunks and kept them in place with ropes.

I was finishing up a knot when Rob spoke, "these guys are definitely from the Cult of the Kobra."

"I'm sure Batman would have mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running Santa Prisca's Venom operation," Kaldur said.

"Agreed, and since there's clearly no love lost between the cultists and those goons, I'm betting Kobra came in and tossed them out! That's why normal supply lines have been cut off."

"We get it," Kid said, "Kobra wanted super-cultists, problem solved. Radio Bats and we'll be home in time for-"

Rob cut him off, "these cultists aren't on Venom, Kobra's hoarding the stuff. We don't leave, not until I know why."

"Until _you_ know why?"

"This team needs a leader!"

"And it's you? Dude you're a thirteen-year-old kid, who ducked out on us without a word!"

Rob laughed, "and you're a mature fifteen? You blew our cover first chance you got!"

I exchanged glances with M'gann and Superboy. She turned to him, "don't you want to lead?"

He shook his head, scoffing, "you?"

She cringed, "after the Mr. Twister fiasco?"

He smiled at her, surprisingly warm, "you did alright." She blushed, the colour stark on her green skin and I grinned before turning to the two knuckleheads.

I blinked as I heard soft Spanish behind me, and while I was rusty I could understand it. " _Look at them argue! Free yourself and take them while they're distracted!_ "

The big guy in the wrestler's mask turned to him, speaking sharply, " _Quiet! For now I play along, they'll give me what I need_."

I exchanged a look with Superboy, wondering if he got all that. His sly grin told me he had, and I was brought back to reality when I heard Wally yell again, "yeah? Well you don't even have superpowers!"

"Neither does Batman!"

"Duh, you're not Batman!"

"Closest thing we've got!"

I growled, stepping towards them, "hey, hey, hey! Will you two shut up? If you're going to act like this, neither of you are mature enough in my opinion to lead a fucking Call of Duty mission. Look at us, we're fighting with each other in front of the bad guys, that's just a bad look. And Wally I swear if you insult anyone again for not having powers I am going to personally ensure that you can no longer procreate. Now be quiet and until we can go back and decide who the hell is going to lead us, let's make decisions democratically"

Muttering under my breath about how stupid Bats was to leave this to us, I turned away from them and then nearly jumped when wrestler-guy spoke, "I like you chica, you have spunk. And such clever niños, but you only have half the story. Let me show you the rest, get you into the factory via my secret entrance."

We stood in front of him and M'gann kneeled, "there is a secret entrance. But he's also hiding something."

Her eyes began to glow, and he chuckled again, "ah ah ah, chica. Bane is not that easy."

She sighed in frustration, "he's mentally reciting _fútbol_ scores _en español_! This could take a while…"

"It's not complicated," Bane interjected, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

I knelt in front of him so we were eye-level, "I know you. You're the head of the Spanish mafia in Gotham, and countless other places as well. You use Venom, don't you?"

"Did you hear that from your mother, chica?" I froze at the mention of Selina, "I'm not stupid, you're the spitting image of her. Tell me, how is Catwoman these days? I haven't heard a whisper about her since she went over to the side of the Justice League. She didn't quite have your fire, chica, she was a little more icy."

I growled, "say one more word about my mother and I'm going to take all of your buddies, dump them in the harbour and leave you tied to this tree so the fucking cultists can put a bullet through your brain. Better yet, I'll do it myself after Miss Martian cracks your mind open and we have what we need."

He winced slightly at the rephrasing of what he said earlier and I didn't miss it, scouring his face for clues as to what he was up to. I felt a hand at the small of my back, and allowed Rob to guide me back to my feet. A series of exchanged looks later and we nodded, we'd allow him to lead us into the factory.

* * *

He led us through the forest to a small cliff, and looking over the edge you could see the factory. Rob went forward to use a pair of binoculars, and I wrinkled my nose as a strange smell drifted over on the wind. "Look at all that product," Robin whispered, "a buy is going down, but if Kobra's not selling to the usual suspects then-"

He was cut off by Kaldur, "we need to identify that buyer."

"Just what I was thinking," Kid said.

"Yeah! You're the thinker," Rob snarked.

"Sarcasm? Dude, a real leader would focus on getting answers."

I turned to them with a glare, "will you two _please_ shut up about the leader thing until we've got this done?" Kaldur looked over at me wearily, and I shot him a small smile. I knew exactly who I wanted to lead.

Bane lifted a giant boulder out of the entrance of what looked to be a mine shaft. Which sounded comfortable and not at all trap-like. I still hadn't let go of what he said earlier, and I was willing to bet my life he was planning on turning on us at some point. He gestured to the tunnel, "answers are this way."

I crossed my arms, "for someone who claims to want us to know the full story, I fail to see as to why you can't just tell us what's going on."

"This isn't something you can explain, chica, you must see it with your own eyes."

He walked ahead and Wally rolled his eyes, "so, now _El Luchador_ is our leader." Rob promptly socked him in the shoulder, and we followed Bane inside. It was lit by little lanterns on the sides, and I didn't like the dim lighting. The tunnel was narrow enough that no more than two of us could fight him at the same time as well, which didn't bode well if he planned on turning around and killing us here and now.

Pressing his thumb to a scanner, a set of metal doors whirred open before us, revealing the factory floor. There were giant metal canisters, most likely used to produce Venom. We crept over, Robin peering out from behind yet another door, the quiet permeated only by the beeps of industrial moving equipment. "All clear!"

We entered the factory, and I looked around for any clues as to what was happening, computer access points to hook Rob up to, conveniently misplaced files, hell, a logo on the side of a moving crate. Everything seemed relatively unmarked and anonymous, and when I went to comment this to Rob he was gone.

"Has that little fool already been caught?" Bane hissed.

"No," Kaldur sighed, "he just does that."

I was pissed, "I swear to god the minute he shows his stupid face I'm going to beat it into the ground."

"Stay put," Kid whispered, "I'll get our intel and be back before the Boy Wonder!"

He took off, Kaldur stretching an arm out to stop him in vain, "wait, Kid!"

Bane turned to us, "great chain of command."

"No judging when you can't even keep your factory your factory," I snapped, pressing my lips together into a thin line.

"I already told you that there is more to the story, didn't I chica?"

We crouched behind a crate, watching them move the boxes of Venom. "It's a massive shipment," Kaldur said.

"Yeah but they're only taking new product off the line, they're not touching this Venom," Superboy noted, craning his head to get a better look.

M'gann turned to Kaldur, "maybe… freshness counts?"

I shook my head, "think about it, what the hell does Kobra want with Venom? He's never really been one for the drug trade, human trafficking is more his style. If they're moving huge amounts of new Venom, he must have done something to it that's either a benefit to him or whoever he's selling it to. Only question is what's different about it."

"You don't think he might be trying to expand his horizons, per se?" Kaldur asked.

"No, it wouldn't make any sense. Venom's a niche market, one that's been rather effortlessly controlled by this guy," I jerked my thumb at Bane, "even if he was looking to compete, Kobra would at least start off with more traditional, widely used drugs. Cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, LSD, something like that to build up clientele."

Superboy snapped his head up, "helicopter's coming." A fraction of a second later, I heard it too. Training my eyes on the skyline, I tried to spot it.

"Looks military-grade, approaching at a decent speed."

M'gann looked at me with a horrified expression, "you don't think a certain military is buying Venom to beef up their soldiers, do you?"

"It's a possibility," I admitted, "but an unlikely one. A government is more likely to try to steal Venom and produce their own then buy it off the black market. We should let Tweedledee and Tweedledum know what's up," I pressed a hand to my comm and got static. My eyes widened, "my comm might be broken somehow but I'm getting nothing."

Kaldur frowned, trying his, "I have static as well, we must be jammed."

"I'm going to try to establish a mind link," M'gann said.

I nodded, "can you go incognito and spy on the guys outside? That copter just landed."

She put up her hood, fading into nothing and the only indication that I got that she was gone was the air she displaced as she flew out the door. As she went, the uncomfortable sensation that accompanied a mind link flooded through my head, and I tried not to squirm.

I heard M'gann's voice in my skull, " _Aqualad, sending you a telepathic image of the buyer now_."

His eyes flew open, "Sportsmaster."

I blinked, "are you sure?"

"Very. He's the buyer, and we can't even contact the League with our comms jammed like this. We need a plan, now."

"I have a suggestion," Bane interjected, jumping down onto the factory floor. I gaped, mouth open in shock.

He flung one guy to the side, moving the other's gun away as he fired. The sound of bullets going off rung through the factory and we stood, "what is he-" Kaldur was cut off by a loud, inhuman growl and I did a one-eighty to find a giant… thing flying through the window.

It landed on our little bride, cracking it in half and sending us falling. I hit the ground on my feet, the sting reverberating up my legs as my nerves protested. In front of us stood a huge ape-like monster, it's skin split to reveal walls of muscle in certain places, and the sight made me sick. "Anyone else think that looks eerily like Desmond after he took the Blockbuster formula?"

"Destroy them!" The voice came from above, and I turned to find none other than Kobra himself. I needed to find Robin and KF, and see if Rob could find a way to unjam the comms. And make sure they were alive.

As for now however, I was being shot at. Dashing behind a pillar, I zipped around disarming as many people as quickly as possible, Aqualad shooting little water bullets back at gunmen from behind a shield of his own making. I was roughly tugged back by him, only to find several bullet holes in the ground where I had been standing. I nodded as a thank you, running off to the side and pulling a small hand grenade from my utility belt.

I pulled the pin, sending it flying into a throng of cultists. It was non-lethal, releasing knock-out gas instead of explosives but from the lance that just barely missed M'gann, it seemed like the other side was shooting to kill, literally.

I spotted Robin and Kid Flash on a bridge above us, and almost cried in relief. I was forced behind a pillar with Kaldur, and turned to find Kid knocking several cultists to the ground. "About damn time!"

We ducked again as more cultists popped out of the woodwork, "Miss Martian!" Kaldur called, "link us all up!"

I felt the link kick back up, " _everyone online_?" I could feel M'gann hesitancy, and I realized she was concerned Superboy would be upset again.

There were a series of yeses and Aqualad nodded, " _good, we need to regroup_."

Rob's voice filtered through, " _busy now_!"

I growled under my breath, letting my fury trickle through towards him, " _I swear to god, once I'm not being shot at we are going to have WORDS Little Boy Blue_."

I wove between pillars, avoiding gunfire. A quick kick to the stomach sent one of the cultists reeling backwards, and I sliced the front of his gun off with my claws as he staggered backwards. I could feel Kaldur's irritation, " _Robin, now_!"

Resignation trickled through the link, and Kaldur peered around the pillar he was hiding behind, " _we need to retreat, Kid, clear a path_!"

KF charged on ahead, barrelling over gunmen as we followed, going… somewhere. We dashed through the door we had entered from previously, Superboy grappling with the monster thing behind us. He flung it away from himself, knocking over cultists like they were bowling pins, and he slammed the metal doors behind him. We took off down the tunnel, the crash and sickening scent of the monster behind us.

They started firing, and Kaldur turned to look behind us, "Superboy, the support beams!"

He knocked them out behind us, and I sped up in an attempt to keep from being buried alive. Eventually the rock settled behind us and Aqualad cracked a glowstick, the red light filling the shaft.

"How could my first mission as leader go so wrong?" Rob asked.

Before he could even take a breath I wheeled around on him, fists clenched as my ponytail whipped behind me. I got up in his face, seething, "you wanna know why? Because you and Kid couldn't pull your heads out of your asses long enough to focus. I swear, if you _ever_ and I mean _ever_ take off like that again, I am going to kill you slowly." I snapped my head towards KF, "and that goes for you too, you fucking idiot!"

I turned back to Rob, "do you have any idea how freaking worried I was? You could have been injured, or captured, and I wouldn't have known where you were to come help you." I poked him in the chest with every syllable for emphasis, "you could have been _dead_."

From my vantage point, I could see his eyes behind the domino mask, and he seemed genuinely disappointed in himself. I instantly calmed, "I'm sorry, that was harsh. But," I gestured between him and Kid, "the two of you need to stop trying to outdo each other, the entire time you were too busy arguing over who was more worthy to focus on the task at hand." I let my expression soften, grabbing his hand in my own, "you haven't got anything to prove, Rob."

"I think," Kaldur said, stepping forward, "what Catgirl is trying to say is that while you do have the most experience, that may be your downfall. Fighting alongside Batman, or even Arabella, your roles are… defined. You two do not need to talk, but this team is new. And a leader must be clear, explicit. He cannot vanish and expect others to play parts in an unknown plan."

"Oh, so I'm supposed to hold everyone's hands?" Rob snapped, I fixed him with a glare and he cast his gaze aside. "Who am I kidding? You should lead us Kaldur, you're the only one who can."

I smiled, turning to face Aqualad. Kid stepped forward, "oh please! I can run circles-"

Rob cut him off, "Wally, come on. You know he's the one, we all do."

"Hello Megan! It's so obvious!"

Superboy shrugged, "coulda' told ya."

I rested my hands on Kaldur's shoulders, "you've been leading this team since it was formed, just… subtly. Every argument you diffused, every plan you clued us into, hell you were ordering us around earlier. You've got this."

We all turned to face Wally, who placed his hands on his hips, "okay."

I moved out of the way as Kaldur walked towards Dick, "then I accept the burden, until you are ready to lift it from my shoulders. You were born to lead this team, maybe not now, but soon."

Dick nodded, and Kaldur turned away, "alright, first priority is preventing that shipment from leaving this island."

"Funny," Rob said, "I had the same thought."

And there, in the red glow of dibutyl phthalate, surrounded by rock, and breathing in dirt, our Team was really, truly formed.

* * *

We took off through the tunnel, heading for open air. Rob had his holo-computer pulled up and was going through info, "Sportsmaster's the supplier-slash-buyer, but it still doesn't track. He doesn't have the juice to acquire the Blockbuster formula, or to get Kobra to do his dirty work!"

"And neither of them have the chops to bond Blockbuster with Venom," Kid interjected, "that took some major nerdage."

"So," I said, ticking off on my fingers, "we need a person with enough influence to get the Blockbuster formula from Cadmus, a reason, possibly created by said person for Kobra to sully his hands with this nonsense and someone smart enough to successfully create the Kobra-Venom."

We slowed and Kaldur spoke, "I believe the expression is 'tip of the iceberg'."

Bane stood in front of us, dropping what looked to be a needle for Venom, "halt niños. I'm feeling… explosive."

We looked up to find multiple bombs above our heads, and the beep they gave off let us know they were primed and ready to fire. "You betrayed us," Kaldur said, with the perfect amount of innocence in his voice might I add, "why?"

"I want my factory back," clearly this guy had never seen a Bond movie, because he was jumping straight into the Villain-Explains-It-All monologue.

Kaldur's voice filtered through the mind link, " _Kid, you'll need a running start_."

He took a small step back, to the casual observer it might seem as if he was scared, but really he was getting ready. "So," Bane continued, "I forced you into a situation where you would either take down my enemies or die trying. If the latter, the Justice League would certainly have come to avenge their sidekicks. And when the smoke cleared, Santa Prisca would be mine once more. Blowing the tunnel with you inside should have the same effect."

Before he could press down on the trigger, KF zoomed past, snatching the device. "With what? This thing?"

We stepped out of the shaft as M'gann lifted Bane into the air, and I gave him my most saccharine smile, "you see, Franz Sanchez, you overlooked one little detail."

"And what is that chica?" He spat.

My smile turned into more of a baring of teeth, "we are so much more than sidekicks."

Superboy stepped forward, "finally," he turned to M'gann, "drop him." She let go of Bane with her telekinesis, and Superboy drop-punched him, sending him flying away. I half expected to hear 'Team Rocket's blasting off again' and see a star twinkle as he hurtled away from us, and I turned towards the bombs decorating the arch of the mine shaft.

"You know, I think I have some use for these."

There was a moment of tense silence as we crouched in the treeline, and one of the cultist's voices drifted over on the breeze. "The helicopter is operational, exalted one."

Wally flew off, dodging gunfire and knocking over goons as he went. Kobra's voice rung out, "take the shipment!"

Sportsmaster ran towards the helicopter, but was quickly stopped by Superboy making a decently sized crater right in front of him. I exchanged a look with Rob as we made our way into the copter, carefully placing bombs for the best effect.

Ducking out as M'gann barrelled into Sportsmaster, Rob took the left while I took the right, and I fell into hand-to-hand with Kobra's little servant. "What's your name again? Gitter? Shine?"

"Shimmer," she growled striking out at my stomach.

I blocked and turned my head to see Robin talking to Kobra. "I know you hate getting your hands dirty."

"True," Kobra said, "but sometimes even a god must stoop to conquer."

I snapped back to reality when Shimmer caught me in the face I grinned at her, "you guys don't actually think Voldy over there is a god, do you? I mean he took some killer martial arts classes but other than that."

"The exalted one is of course a god, Lord Naga-Naga. We are lucky he deigns to frolic with mortals."

I swung around, tying her hands behind her as quickly as humanly possible. Sportsmaster flung M'gann back into Superboy's chest, taking off in the helicopter. I ran over to see if she was okay, and was met with a sly grin and a push of the trigger's button.

Sparks flew out from behind the helicopter, lighting up the sky, and it looked as though it was on fire. It started to plummet towards the ground and my eyes widened as I realized where it was going to land. I moved backwards as the helicopter hit the factory, and the whole place exploded and went up in flames.

I turned to find Kobra with his foot on Rob's chest, saw red, and flung myself at him, wrapping my leg around his neck in a perfectly executed thigh-choke. He barely budged, but the momentum was enough for Robin to roll out of the way. Kobra glared, "I am plagued by mosquitoes!"

"Good!" Robin snapped as he stood up, "'cause this mosquito is mighty 'concerted over your pain!"

Surveying the damage, the lack of his followers and the burning factory behind us, he stepped back into the trees, "another time then."

Rob stepped forward to find him, but he had disappeared into the jungle. We fell back, all standing in a circle. Rob approached Kaldur, "we picked the right guy to lead." His voice held no shame or anger now, just warmth. He grinned, "automatically making you the right guy to explain this mess to Batman," he gestured to the burning factory, laughing.

I winced, "he's really going to let us have it, this was supposed to be covert and now, well…" I looked over towards the fire.

* * *

 _ **MOUNT JUSTICE**_

 _ **July 23rd, 01:06 EST**_

* * *

"A simple, recon mission, observe and report." Batman was up in Kaldur's face and I felt bad for the poor guy, but then again at least it wasn't me. "You will each receive a written evaluation detailing your _many_ mistakes. Until then, good job." My head had never whipped around so fast, and the rest of the Team was just as surprised, "no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. How you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success. And how you choose who leads, determines character."

Kaldur and Rob shared a smirk, and I felt the corner of my mouth twitch. Our team was fully operational now, with a chain of command and a system that worked for us. We were fully prepared to kick ass, and I was going to have a hell of time doing it.

Wally cocked his head to the side, "so is anyone else hungry?"

I nodded, stomach growling, "pizza?"

There were assorted cries of 'pizza' and I turned to M'gann, "feel like going to pick some up in the Bioship?"

She smiled warmly, "sounds great!"

* * *

 **Okay so almost a month probably shouldn't be considered a fast update but I did try. Christmas break starts for my school in about a month as well, so I'll probably have an update before then and then at least two or three during that, when I'll have way more time to write. Right after that I have midterms though, so I might not update during the month of January, we'll see how that goes.**

 **Anywho, thank you guys so much for the nice reviews on the last chapter! Every time I see them it makes my heart go all fuzzy. See you next time!**


	5. Schooled

**Hoo boy, do I have a story to tell. Pretty much three days after I posted the last chapter, my laptop broke and I had no computer to write on. Which, sucky in and of itself but I had to save up money to buy a new hard drive and get this guy to replace my old one, which clearly took a while. I really wanted this to be a double update, and I have another chapter in the works but I am currently smack in the middle of my midterms, and this was honestly written out of fits of procrastination. I'm hoping to have the next chapter up by Friday, and then I'm hoping to work out a regular upload schedule where I post every Sunday, but please forgive me if the next chapter isn't up by then. As usual, let me know what you think and I'll see you next time!**

* * *

 **GOTHAM**

 _ **August 3, 08:01 EST**_

 _The pavement was slick with rain beneath my feet as I ran, Carla an arm's length behind me. Of course she had the crazy idea to rob one of the most notorious gangs in the underground, and she had almost gotten away with it. Key word being almost._

 _I paused as I felt her slow to a stop behind me, and turned to see a large patch of red blooming across the white of her dress. I felt my face go slack with horror, "Carla?"_

 _She pressed a hand to her stomach, breathing in short, rapid gasps, "Arabella, I need you to run."_

 _I shook my head viciously, "I'm not leaving you, we need to get you to someone!"_

 _She gave me a sad smile, "I'm not going to make it five more blocks, let it go and get somewhere safe."_

" _Then we'll break into an empty house or apartment, someone's got to have a medical kit. I can try to fix it," I held her free hand in my own, desperate to save her._

" _Goddamn it Ara, you're still a little kid! Get the hell out of here before Andrei finds you, it's my fault you're in this mess in the first place. Just go, before you see something you won't forget."_

 _My head was swirling with ideas and possibilities, each less likely than the one before it, "I'm not going to let you die alone in a back alley! Please Carla, I can't lose you."_

 _She seemed to pick up on the unsaid 'too' on the end of that sentence, and she slumped against the wall, the front of her dress nearly entirely red. Looking closer, I could see she had more than one bullet wound, counting at least six jagged holes in her dress. Choking on a sob, I wrapped my arms around her. She started to collapse to the ground, and I tried to lower her down slowly as her bigger frame engulfed me. Hot tears rolled down my cheeks, nearly identical to the feeling of her blood on my hands._

" _Carla please, please hold on!"_

" _You've been good to me kid," the words were followed by a sharp intake of breath, "even though I didn't deserve it. Even though I've done terrible, stupid things."_

" _No more than I have, please Carla. Stay with me, you can't leave me!"_

" _Rule one, Ara," her eyes fluttered closed and I felt a rush of panic as the sound of police sirens grew closer and closer, "never tell me what to do."_

 _Then there was a gurgle in the back of her throat and a rattle, and her entire body seemed to go limp. I whimpered, calling out her name, "Carla?"_

 _She didn't answer and I started to shake her, calling louder and louder. This wasn't happening, this couldn't be happening. She promised me she would never leave me. I let out a loud, mourning wail, folding myself over her body, shaking with sobs._

 _The sound of sirens was next to me now, and I felt strong hands on my shoulders, "hey, hey kid! Get away from her."_

 _I swatted viciously at the man, curling as close to Carla as I could get. I was feral, so, so desperate to stay with her, not to leave her. Another set of arms pulled me up off the ground as I began to kick and fight. I wouldn't let them take me from her, I wouldn't. They'd have to knock me out and drag me away…_

I woke up with a sudden start, eyes snapping open. I could feel tears on my face, and I swore I could feel blood on my hands. I ran for my bathroom, turning on the shower as hot as I could take and started scrubbing my arms. The rough edges of the loofah scraped and I basked in the sensation, rubbing my forearms and hands raw. I finally just stood under the spray, letting the water sting my skin red as I tried to process everything. She would have been twenty-one by now, if her life hadn't been cut short trying to steal Andrei Asimov's money from right under his own nose. Twenty-one.

I eventually started to move, going through the motions of a shower while trying not to think, and I returned to my room, slipping on my usual outfit of shorts and a tank top with a sports bra underneath. Selina hated it, but I preferred function to fashion. Though I could appreciate beautiful clothing, wearing it twenty-four-seven isn't practical.

The smell of burning eggs had me making my way to the kitchen, where Selina stood over the stove humming. I raised an eyebrow, "what's this about?"

She turned to me, "good morning Minou! How did-" she cut herself off, a hand coming up to grasp my chin so she could properly examine my face. Her eyes narrowed, "you've been crying."

I detatched her hand from my face, "I might have had a tiny nightmare."

She froze, whisk hitting the side of the bowl of what looked to be pancake batter, "I thought you stopped having those."

I dropped my gaze to the floor, "I did, they just kind of… started again."

"When?"

I cringed, "about a month ago or so?"

She turned away from the bowl entirely to face me, "it's that team, for whatever reason you're having nightmares because you joined it. I _knew_ I shouldn't have let you-"

I interrupted her, "there was nothing you could or can do to stop me from being a part of the Team and you know it."

"If it's negatively impacting your mental health I sure as hell can do whatever I please."

"Selina, mom, I'm fine. It was just that one about Carla again, something probably just subconsciously reminded me of her yesterday."

"I still don't understand why you refuse to see a therapist or psychiatrist."

I snorted, "have some shrink poking around inside my head? No thank you, there's nothing wrong with me." I didn't throw in that I was the smallest bit scared as to what someone might find in my head, and I was reminded of what Black Canary had told me when she first met me. " _There's a lot of darkness in you for someone so young. That's something you'll have to learn to deal with and control for the rest of your life, never let it win Arabella_."

I moved the eggs off the burner, "anyway, this seems like a bit of an exercise in futility, we both know you can't cook. Mama Rossi's for breakfast?" I was already moving to the door for my leather jacket and converse, throwing my hair up in a messy ponytail.

Selina sighed in relief, flicking the utensils she had been using in the sink, "we're not done with this conversation, but yes thank god."

* * *

 **MOUNT JUSTICE**

 _ **August 3, 13:06 EDT**_

We were all leaned over the floating air hockey table as Wally kicked Kaldur's ass for the third time in a row. Kaldur had never played before, and M'gann was excited to learn another Earthen game so we had been using it as a way to pass the time, praise god for holograph technology.

I turned my head as the automated voice announced someone's arrival, " _recognized, Superboy B-05"._

Superboy appeared in a burst of golden light, a sullen look on his face. Well, more sullen than usual, there's a reason I refer to this kid as the Angst Machine. He stomped through the table, making it disappear. M'gann greeted him with an overly chipper tone, "hi Superboy! How was Metropolis?"

He ignored her completely, walking a good few feet away from us. Before M'gann could look like a kicked puppy, Black Canary cleared her throat as she entered the room. "Ready for training everyone?"

I grinned, training with BC was always fun, and I always learned something. Though to be fair the second was true of most if not all of the members of the Justice League. M'gann greeted the two of them as well, rushing forward to hug her uncle.

He returned the hug and laid a hand on her shoulder, "M'gann, I was… in the neighbourhood so I thought I'd see how you were adjusting."

She smiled, "a few bumps, but… I'm learning!"

He returned the smile, "that's all I can ask."

Superboy made to leave during the exchange, but Black Canary called out to him, "stick around, class is in session."

He turned, arms crossed and looking pissed off. I could immediately tell this was about to go from fun to 'watch the room blow up'.

BC strode to the center of the sparring area and it glowed a bright white as it activated. She turned to face us, hands grasping her jacket, "I consider it an honor to be your teacher. I'll throw a lot at you, everything I've learned from my own mentors," she began to shrug her jacket off, wincing in visible pain as a bandage on her arm was revealed, "and my own bruises."

"What happened?" M'gann asked, concern painting her features.

"The job," Black Canary answered succinctly. "Now, combat is about controlling conflict, putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting, never reacting. I'll need a sparring partner."

I stepped forward without really thinking about it, and she smiled, "you're up first Catgirl?"

I shrugged, handing my whip off to Rob, "you know me, always ready to get a few punches in."

Her smile turned to a smirk, "we'll see about getting punches in."

I walked towards the center of the circle, maintaining enough distance so she would have to step forward to attack. Despite the reacting versus acting shit, I knew she wanted me to make the first move so she could spin it around on me.

She came in for a right hook and I ducked, coming back up to try and drive my fist into her stomach. She caught my hand, making to throw me over her shoulder. Instead, I ran in a circle, like a human skip-it and freed my hand from her grip. She was going for grapples and throws, so I'd have to use my weight against her as well as her own.

We went on like this for about thirty seconds before she caught me in the ribs, I screwed up my face more than necessary and she paused for a half second to assess what damage she might have done. I used the delay to hook my foot around her ankle and trip her, though she regained her balance before she could fall.

Narrowing her eyes, she grabbed my arm lightning-fast and expertly threw me over her shoulder. I attempted to press close to her so I could stick the landing but I ended up flat on my back. A little notification popped up next to me announcing my failure.

She nodded firmly as I stood up, "a minute and forty-five seconds, not bad."

"But she fought dirty," M'gann protested.

"Newsflash Sunshine," I said as I dusted my legs off, "when you're actually out there fighting bad guys, they're going to play dirty. Such is life."

I made my way back to our little group as Black Canary faced us again, "anyone else up for it?"

Wally waved his hand in the air, "right here! Yeah." His words were muffled by the banana in his mouth, he took a last bite as he spoke, "after this, _swish_ ," the peel hit the garbage can, "I'll show you my moves."

His tone was ridiculously suggestive and I buried my face in my hands, "tell me he did not just say that."

"Oh he did," Rob assured.

Black Canary moved so quick I could barely process the movement, a punch to the face for distraction and then she swept down low, knocking his feet out from under him. He fell on his back hard, groaning as the floor announced his status as failed. He moved his head to face the ceiling, "hurts so good."

"Good block," she commented, "but did anyone see what he did wrong?"

Rob lifted an index finger, "ooh, ooh! He hit on teacher and got served?"

"Dude!" Wally hissed, clutching his arm in pain.

"He allowed me to dictate the terms-"

Superboy cut her off, "oh please. With my powers the battle's _always_ on my terms. I'm a living weapon, and this is a waste of my time."

I whistled low, muttering under my breath, "you think hitting on teacher is bad? What happens when you violently disrespect teacher?"

Black Canary smirked again, narrowing her eyes, "prove it."

He power walked towards her, refolding his arms and Wally made the smart decision to quickly back away. They both struck stances, and he threw a punch, she dodged it effortlessly, grabbing his arm and flinging him to the ground. I winced, I knew Superboy's fighting style was akin to that of a battering ram, hard, heavy hits that he kept coming, but involved no real amount of technique or forethought. But this? This was just embarrassing.

Robin laughed, and Kaldur elbowed him in the side as I cut him a sharp look. He stifled it behind his hands, but it was still obnoxious. Superboy got back up, practically shaking with anger, rage seeming to seep from his pores.

"You're angry, good," Black Canary said, "but don't react. Channel that anger into-"

He cut her off with a growl and a strike, coming forward to punch her in the face again. She flipped over him, kicking his legs out from under him from behind. He growled in frustration and Rob snickered again, and I pinched his arm. Admittedly I could see the humor in the whole situation, but Superboy was clearly pissed for some unseen reason and laughing at him wasn't going to help the situation.

Black Canary stretched out a hand to help him up, and he swatted it away. "That's it! I'm done."

She rested a hand on his shoulder, "training is mandatory." He violently shook her hand from him, but before he could snap at her again there was a siren as Bruce's face appeared on a ridiculously large holoscreen.

"Batman to the Cave, five hours ago a new menace attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary. The attacker was capable of studying and then duplicating the powers and abilities of its opponents. Arrow called in reinforcements, which nearly proved disastrous as our foe gained more and more power with each new combattant."

"Whoa," Wally breathed, "one guy with the powers of the entire League?"

"In the end," Bats continued, "it took eight Leaguers four hours to defeat and dismantle the android."

"An android?" Rob asked, "w-wait, who made it? T.O Morrow?"

"Good guess, Robin," Batman said, "but Red Tornado doesn't think so?"

"So what other crazy robot scientists do we know of?" I asked.

"The technology bears the signature of… Professor Ivo," Martian Manhunter commented.

"Ivo?" Kaldur asked, "but Ivo's dead."

"So we all thought," Black Canary said grimly, "or hoped."

"To make sure this threat is permanently neutralized, we're sending two trucks carrying the android's parts to two separate STAR Labs facilities in Boston and New York for immediate evaluation." Batman continued, "Every precaution is being taken, we'll have four additional decoy trucks to create confusion in case Ivo, or anyone, tries to recover the remains. You will split into undercover teams to safeguard the two real trucks."

"Yes!" Wally whooped, "road trip!"

I made eye contact with Rob, raising an eyebrow, _'same team?'_ He nodded his assent and Wally glared at us, "will you two cut out that silent communication thing? It's creepy!"

Superboy looked less than pleased, "so now we take out your trash?"

I pressed my lips together into a line, one does not simply speak to Batman like that unless you'd like to be murdered. And on top of that, this was so much more than taking out trash.

To Bruce's credit he responded cooly, narrowing his eyes, "did you have something better to do?" Superboy averted his eyes, and that was that.

There was a beep from Kaldur's GPS thingy and he spoke, "coordinates received, on our way."

I grinned as we ran to the hangar, "does this mean we get to use the motorcycles? I _love_ the motorcycles."

* * *

 **LITCHFIELD COUNTY**

 _ **August 3, 20:08 EDT**_

I was practically humming with excitement as we waited for the signal, hands wrapped loosely over the grips of the motorcycle handles, finger gently tracing the throttle. I loved the rush when I was driving, made infinitely more fun by being able to go as fast as I pleased. It growled beneath me, engine warming as we waited for the go-ahead.

I grinned, pulling on the clutch and putting the bike into first gear as Batman turned towards us. He gave the signal and the trucks started to pull out, Robin, Superboy and I turning right towards New York. About five minutes later, the three decoys turned into a separate lane and we continued following the truck.

Rob pulled up next to me and Superboy, the three of us driving side by side. "If dislike is the opposite of like, is disaster the opposite of aster? See, instead of things going wrong, they go right."

I shook my head, Dick regularly voiced shower thoughts out of nowhere, it was just how his brain worked. It was of the many interesting things about him I liked, but was hardly relevant to the task at hand.

Superboy stared ahead without speaking, and Rob turned to look at him. "Uh, clearly you're not feeling the aster, what's wrong?"

Superboy shifted his eyes towards us, "Canary. I mean what business does she have teaching combat skills to a guy with super-strength?"

I felt my eye twitch a little, irritation rising in my stomach. Rob seemed to sense this and spoke before I could, "taking down stronger guys is part of the gig. Canary learned that the hard way, same with Batman and, well, me."

"Not to mention," I interjected, "combat is _always_ something that can be improved, you're always going to have something to learn from someone. Rob and I have been training with Bats and Catwoman for years now, but we still attend Canary's lessons because they're about learning to fight smarter, not about the basics. And no offense, you could stand to learn something from her."

Superboy cut me a glare and revved his engine, pulling ahead of us. I shared a look with Robin and sighed, this was going to be a long drive.

I nearly swerved off the road as the sound of high-pitched, manic laughter filled the air, louder than the sound of my engine. Little green monkeys, no, androids shaped like monkeys, flew out of the corn fields and landed on the back of the truck. I heard Kaldur's voice on the comms, "Robin, Catgirl, Superboy! Our truck is under attack!"

"Kind of figured!" Robin answered, and I pulled ahead towards the truck, switching into higher gear.

Superboy's voice was more of a growl as he spoke, "I hate monkeys."

"Have you ever even seen monkeys?" I asked and he glared back at me. I pulled further ahead still, trying to see if I could hit some of the androids with my bullwhip. The monkeys started to beat at the window, and the truck swerved as the driver seemed to panic.

"Robot monkeys!" Rob called with a laugh, "totally Ivo's tweak style!" He switched to battle mode and I followed suit, the back of our bikes detaching and floating up above us. It was a new technology he had designed and was obscenely proud of, inspiration striking after a Power Rangers marathon. He turned to Superboy, "hey ace! Switch your ride to battle mode."

"No point," Superboy answered, flinging himself up off his bike and landing on the roof of the truck.

The bike fell, hurtling towards us due to the sudden drop in acceleration, "or not!" Rob yelled, jumping up off his seat. I did too, the clang of my bike hitting theirs ringing in my ears. I ended up desperately latching onto Rob's back as he line-launched to the truck, having nothing to wrap my whip around.

I detached from him as we hit the back of the truck, feet resting on the narrow ledge between the truck doors and empty air, claws dug into the metal in an attempt to stay on. "There are safe fucking ways to jump from one moving vehicle to another, Supey!"

He didn't respond as we started to fend off the monkeys, me using one clawed hand to rip gashes in their bodies. I narrowly dodged Rob's leg as he kicked away one that was about to jump on my back, I breathed a rushed thanks, grabbing one by the tail and flinging it under the wheel of the truck.

The battle drones were firing lasers into the fray, and I flipped out of the way of one as Superboy bellowed in pain. I watched, mouth wide open as the monkeys picked him up and flew him off the truck, dropping him in the road. The loud booming noises from behind us informed me he was jumping his way back to the truck, and I climbed on top of the car, pulling Rob up with my free hand.

We started fighting through the horde, and I swiftly decapitated one while a large thump rocked the truck as Superboy landed next to us. Rob fell back, and I let out a yelp of horror as I steadied him. There was another thump from beneath us and to the right, the tires exploding. The stupid monkeys had laser-beamed the wheels.

Rob flipped down to the windshield, yelling at the driver, "get out!" The door popped open and he flung himself and the driver into the corn field, and my eyes widened as the truck started to tip.

I didn't have time to jump off, instead I took my chances and flung myself down the little hole the monkeys had made, trying to situate myself away from the engine. Digging my claws into the metal, I squeezed my eyes shut as I felt the truck roll and roll and roll, finally coming to a resounding stop. The doors at the back blasted open, the miniature explosion punctuated with more laughing from the monkeys as they flew off with the parts. I yanked my claws from the metal, woozy as I landed on my feet.

The truck moved yet again, as I realized Superboy was underneath it and had pushed it off him. I fell over, smacking my head off the metal of the 'floor'. Shaking my head to clear it, I scrambled out of the gaping hole in the back and staggered towards Rob, clutching my temple as I felt a migraine start up.

He turned towards me, letting the driver stand. I waved a hand, indicating I didn't need help but he rushed forward anyway. "Are you okay? You're not hurt are you?"

I shook my head, "some eyebrow hair singed off, some bumps and bruises, the usual."

Superboy growled and took off after the monkeys, doing his super-jump thing. "Superboy!" Rob called, trying to get him to come back.

"Well there's going to be some unexplained crop circles in the near future," I muttered.

Kaldur's voice came over on the comms, "Aqualad to Robin, we lost our cargo, did you?"

He sighed, pressing on the earpiece to respond, "it's gone. And so is Superboy."

"Aqualad to Superboy, radio your position, we'll help you."

Superboy's voice was rough with anger, "I don't need help! Don't want any!"

A second or two passed and Aqualad called again, "Superboy?"

"I think he ditched his comm," Rob said.

"Super!" Wally complained, "now we can't even track him!"

"He's out of my telepathic range," M'gann said sadly, "this Professor Ivo, if he is alive, seems to be two steps ahead us." Doubt and worry filled her voice, "maybe we should contact Red Tornado?"

"Tornado always tells us to handle things ourselves," Kaldur replied, "and the mission can still succeed if we recover the parts before they're reassembled."

"Oh that's a great plan," Wally said sarcastically, "except for the part about us not knowing _where to look_!"

"Wally," I interjected, "take a deep breath, maybe pop some Xanax."

"Maybe we do," Rob said, kneeling in front of a monkey carcass and yanking out his USB cable.

I raised an eyebrow, kneeling next to him, "what sort of scheme is that beautiful brain of yours coming up with?"

"We'd have heard by now if the decoy trucks had been attacked," he said, typing away at his holo-computer, "so how did these monkeys know exactly which trucks to target?" His face broke out into a wide grin as a map appeared above his arm, "ha! The parts have GPS! The monkeys can track the signal, which means I can track them with the one I captured. Looks like both sets of parts are converging on… " his expression grew surprised and grim, "Gotham City."

I blinked, a small stab of fear making itself known in my stomach. Aqualad spoke again, "that far south? M'gann and I won't get there any time soon. I'm sending Kid on ahead to meet you, Aqualad out."

Rob stood, slinging the monkey over his shoulder. I did as well, dusting myself off and waiting for Rob to call his bike over. Mine was totalled, I'd have to ride with him. I examined my claws, making sure they were in working order and then crossed my arms, "we're gonna kick his ass."

The corner of his mouth twitched upwards, "we kind of have to, don't we?"

I nodded, "this just got personal, and I'll be quite happy to let Ivo know just what I think about his choice in bases of operation."

"Sometimes I forget just how much you love Gotham."

"Let's make sure Ivo doesn't forget."

The bike pulled up and he climbed on, "sounds like a plan."

I clambered on behind him, bracing my arms on his shoulders. "Then what are we waiting for?"

"Stop as soon as we can to change into our suits?"

"Oh god, yes please."

* * *

"Okay, if your cape hits me in the face one more time, we're pulling over and I'm driving."

"Learn to duck."

"Ducking isn't the problem, it's your ridiculous suit design!"

"Hey, don't rag on the cape, it's beautiful."

We pulled past Gotham city limits, and I turned in surprise as Wally ran up behind us, coming to run next to the bike in his Kid Flash gear. "So you changed too?" Rob asked.

"You kidding?" He shuddered, "I feel naked in civvies. You still tracking the parts?"

"They were heading through Gotham," Rob turned back to the map, "but they veered. Wait, dude, they're at my school!"

My head snapped up, "what the hell are they doing at school? It's closed for the summer, no one's there. And it's not like they keep state secrets at Gotham Academy."

"No clue, could be a coincidence, we just have to get there as soon as possible."

He revved the engine and we sped up, zooming into the heart of Gotham as Wally ran behind us. I heard shouts of our names as people recognized us, but Rob's eyes were on the map, focused on getting us to the school as quick as possible.

"If you take a left on Gardiner and cut across the alleyway you'll get there faster!" I shouted over the wind and engine.

"Isn't that a dead-end?" He called back.

"Not unless street and sidewalk repair hired a guy that can fix gaping holes in brick buildings in forty-eight hours, there was a small explosion there yesterday."

"Only in Gotham are there convenient and random small explosions," Wally complained from behind us.

"Don't talk shit just because Central City's boring," I teased, "random attacks on random places give Gotham character."

We raced through the streets, driving through the aforementioned gaping hole and pulling up to Gotham Academy, Dick and I's school and my personal hell-hole, filled with nothing but the rich and preppy children of surgeons, lawyers, senators and oil tycoons.

Taking off through the school, Rob called ahead to KF, "He's in the gym!"

"Right!"

He tore off ahead of us and I turned to Robin whilst running, "hey do you think they'll extend vacation if the building gets enough damage done to it?"

He snorted, "let's pray."

We banged through the gym doors, and placed our backs against them as Wally ran a very beat-up Superboy over to us. "There you are, next time you want to take a leave of absence maybe still take your comm with you?" I asked.

He growled and Rob flung a birdarang at Amazo. He turned to us, " _Martian Manhunter_."

The birdarang went right through him, exploding against the far wall. I grabbed the handle of my whip, uncoiling it with a little flick, "anyone else find his voice ridiculously fucking creepy?"

Superboy staggered to his feet, "the effect wears off."

" _Access, Red Tornado_ ," we flew across the gym as Amazo came flying towards us RT-style, and my head hit the corner of a bleacher. The pain made my vision go black for a second, and when I reached up, my glove came back slick with blood.

"Well that can't be good," I muttered, hoping the colour of my hair would disguise the blood until this was all over.

" _Access, Captain Atom_ ," Wally dodged an atom beam, running around to Amazo's other side. " _Access, Black Canary_ ," the piercing sound of a Canary Cry shook the gym, and Wally was sent flying backwards as I clapped my hands over my ears, almost taking out my ear pieces.

Superboy flew towards Amazo, hellbent on beating the shit out of him, " _Superman_ ," Amazo said as he caught Superboy's fist and punched him dead in the face, sending him flying back into the bleachers.

" _Martian Manhunter_ ," Rob flung more birdarangs at him, but he detached his hands from his arms, whipping the thick cable at us.

I dodged, rolling to the side as Amazo wrapped his arms around KF, crushing him with super-strength. "Hey!" I yelled, making to run and distract him.

Instead he turned his head as the sound of an arrow whistled through the air, " _Martian Manhunter_."

The arrow flew through him as he density shifted, making Wally hit the ground at his feet. I whipped my head to see where it came from, but there was nothing but blackness. The arrow hit the ground next to Rob, and Wally took off as Superboy came up behind Amazo. " _Access, Black Canary_ ," he flicked Superboy over his shoulder, using one of BC's signature throws. Rob sent a birdarang his way, but it missed as Amazo turned.

" _Superman_ ," his eyes glowed red, sending a ray of heat vision towards Rob. I yelled his name, breathing a sigh of relief as Wally tackled him out of the way.

"Hey big guy!" I called, "back the fuck off!" I flicked my whip, wrapping it around Amazo's neck while he was distracted and giving it a sharp tug.

The android stumbled some, and then faced me, " _access, The Flash_." He ran at me, grabbing me by the ponytail before I could move and swinging me around in the air before letting me go.

I had the short sensation of flying before I hit the wall face-first. My ribs and nose screamed in pain and I felt myself crumple to the ground. Trying to blink away the black at the edges of my vision, I pushed myself up by my forearms, and surveyed the room. Suddenly I noticed Ivo lounging on the bleachers, and paused to think, my brain sluggish.

Said Professor fake-yawned in boredom, "normally Amazo would study and mimic your abilities during battle, but what's the point? You're all such poor copies of the originals."

"So everyone keeps saying," Superboy replied, "it makes me angry!" The last word was punctuated with a super-jump, and he landed where Ivo had been only seconds before. " _Wanna see me channel that anger_?!"

"Great! He's gone ballistic again," Wally complained.

"Maybe not," Robin said as I made my way next to them. And I had to agree, Superboy was pissed off, but he wasn't out of control. I could recognize the sensation, it was something Selina had taught me to do. Get pissed off and put it behind your punch, but don't let it make you stupid.

Ivo skittered away, "Amazo, protect your master! Priority Alpha!"

" _Access, Captain Atom_ ," Superboy got an atom beam to the face and I winced.

"Anyone wanna play keep away?" Rob yelled, Sparta-kicking Ivo in the back, sending him flying across the gym.

"Ooh! Me! Me!" Wally said, running towards Ivo.

" _Access, Superman_ ," Amazo stomped, causing a fissure in the ground that made Wally flip through the air onto the bleachers.

"Sounds like fun to me!" I said with a grin, wrapping my whip around Ivo's torso as he stood. I gave a strong tug, making him come towards me. He received a kick to the ribs that made him slide across the gym floor.

Rob threw a birdarang at Amazo, and he density shifted again. Except this time, as he did so Superboy went in for a punch, and when he regained physical form Superboy's fist was through his head. Which then promptly exploded.

Amazo fell to the ground with a clunk, and Rob rushed forward, "help me disassemble him, now!"

Wally walked forward, arms crossed and tone almost lackadaisical, "dude, the guy has no head."

"Don't take any chances," Aqualad said as he and Miss Martian ran into the gym,

"Oh about damn time!" I called, walking over to help Rob take the android apart. Thankfully, taking apart robots required infinitely less skill and knowledge than putting them together.

Miss Martian flew over to Superboy, hooking her hands around his arm, "Superboy, are you alright?"She was so blatantly into him, I had a hard time figuring out how no one had really noticed.

"I'm fine," he turned to Rob, "feeling the aster." They shared a smile, and I grinned too.

"They call those back-formations you know," I yawned, cutting a thicker wire with my claw.

"Cool! See Kid? Totally told you they were a thing," Rob said.

"Yeah, and not to tone down the amazingness of that discovery but where did Ivo go?"

My head snapped up, and I scanned the room, only to find an empty gym. "Well," I drawled, "that can't be good."

* * *

 **MOUNT JUSTICE**

 **August 3, 01:06 EDT**

"The Amazo android is in pieces again," Kaldur said to Batman, Red Tornado, Black Canary, Martian Manhunter and GA, "safely being analyzed at the two separate STAR Labs. But Ivo escaped, and since he originated the tech, he's arguably more dangerous than the android."

"Capturing the Professor will be a League priority," Black Canary assured.

"But we understand your mission encountered… other complications," Martian Manhunter commented.

We all turned to look at Superboy, who looked away. Batman stepped forward, "complications come with the job. Your ability to handle them has impressed the League."

"The whole League?" Superboy asked, it was a pointed question.

"Given time, yes," Bats answered, "Kryptonians as you know, have _very_ hard heads." Superboy smiled a little, and Batman continued, "of course there's no shame in asking for help. That's why the League exists, because there's some problems even we can't handle individually."

"Please!" Rob interjected, "if we needed help we'd never get the chance to ask!" He pulled the arrow from earlier out from god-knows-where, "look familiar? You were following us! Babysitting, you still don't trust us!"

I hadn't stopped to consider the meaning of the arrow, I was just grateful KF hadn't been crushed to death, though now the green feathers of the arrow alerted me to just who it belonged to. Before I could get irritated, Batman spoke again, "we didn't follow you."

Green Arrow pulled one of his arrows out of his quiver, holding the two side-by-side. His was made of different, lighter-coloured wood, the shaft went inside the metal of the head instead of through it, and said head was two triangles instead of one, both with downturned edges made for catching on things and tearing if you pulled it out, and the edges didn't connect to the shaft like the others did. All in all, the arrows looked absolutely nothing alike, except for the feathers.

Rob's eyes widened, "and that's not your arrow." His face broke out into a grin, "but that means-"

Wally cut him off, "Speedy!"

"He has our backs," Kaldur said warmly.

Wally rushed forward, snatching the arrow from GA's hand, "souvenir!"

While the thought made me happy, I couldn't help a sense of doubt. I sidled up next to GA as Superboy went to speak to Black Canary and cocked my head to the side, speaking quietly. "But aren't Roy's arrows red? To match the uniform?"

He nodded somewhat sadly, "they are-" he cut himself off, "Catgirl are you _bleeding_?"

I blinked, the sensation of something wet rolling down my forehead reminding me of my earlier injury. Batman whirled around and everyone's eyes were on me as I reached up to swipe at my hairline. I felt my cheeks heat up at the attention, and my black glove came away shiny from the wet of it as my forehead got smeared with blood.

"Um, a little?"

Batman grabbed my chin with his hand, the other coming up to part my hair and inspect the injury, "how did this happen?" He demanded.

I lowered my gaze to the ground, "I may or may not have hit my head repeatedly? Though I think this came from the corner of that bleacher."

His eyes narrowed, "how many times is repeatedly?"

"I don't really know? Honestly everything's been a little fuzzy ever since I rolled around in that armoured car-"

"What do you mean ' _rolled around in that armoured car_?"

I winced, I had left the incident out of my report for exactly this reason, "the MONQIs blew the tires off the side of the truck we were following while I was on the roof, I didn't have time to jump off before I got crushed to death so I more or less hid inside it while clinging for dear life to the side while it did a couple flips? I don't remember how many, don't ask."

"And you hit your head?"

"Yeah, and then again off that bleacher and then I kinda sorta got flung into a wall? Hit my ribs too, so those might be screwed again."

He shook his head, "I'll get your mother to let you stay with us tonight and have someone wake you up every few hours."

My eyes widened, "or you could not and I could just stay up or something, Redbull is a beautiful thing. Please, you can't tell her."

"And why not?" I looked from side to side, desperate not to tell him point-blank, and definitely not in front of everyone. He sighed, "I'm taking you home, Robin, do you want to come or stay here?"

Rob stepped towards us, face full of concern, "I'll go with you, Belle are you okay?"

I grinned, "never better," turning to the rest of the Team I waved goodbye, "see you guys tomorrow or whatever, so long as Catwoman doesn't keep me on house arrest."

Kaldur's brow furrowed, "feel better."

Pleasantries were exchanged, GA gave me some cloth to hold to my head, and then we left via Zeta Port. All piling out of the beat-up phone booth, I breathed, the smell of car exhaust and spices from the Indian restaurant down the street drifting over on the wind. The Batmobile was parked on the street, and Rob and I climbed in back.

"So," Bruce said from behind the wheel, "you want to tell me why you don't want me to tell Selina?"

I sighed, laying my head on the window, "she wants to pull me from the Team."

"What?" Rob asked, somewhat frantic, "why?"

I turned my gaze out the window, "I've been having nightmares again. If she finds out I got hurt at this moment in time, it's going to be the last straw."

"You've been having nightmares again," Batman said. It was more of a comment then a question but I answered anyway. Rob gracefully kept his mouth shut, jaw tightening as he stared out the window.

"Not many and not often, but yes. The most recent was this morning, it was about Carla's death."

"I'll tell Selina you're simply staying with us tonight," Bruce replied, and a small bubble of hope rose in my chest, "on the condition that you start speaking to Black Canary about everything." The bubble burst.

"I don't want to. I don't want anyone poking around in my head, trying to psychoanalyze me."

"Why not?" He asked, "she's a good counselor, she won't tell anyone anything you don't want her to."

I swallowed, holding the cloth tighter to my head, "I don't want to know what she'll find in there Bruce, I really don't."

I watched his expression soften in the rearview mirror, as he spoke his voice was soft too, "terrible things have happened to you, Arabella, but you're not broken. You most likely have PTSD, a good number of us do, it's a job hazard. There's no shame in talking to someone, and there's nothing terrible locked up in your head, just pain you won't sift through."

I ran my tongue along my top teeth, "fine. But I won't be happy about it."

"That's all I ask, now let's get Alfred to look at your head."

Alfred had sent me up to bed with a glass of water, ice pack and ibuprofen and because I felt like being rebellious, I was currently sitting halfway out the window of a guest bedroom, hands wrapped around the frame to hold me steady. I heard Dick come up behind me, "y'know, I really don't think that's safe behaviour for someone who's concussed."

"I don't think there are many safe behaviours for people who are concussed," I countered, "the air's nice."

"Come on, before Bruce sees you and has a coronary. I could've been him."

I yawned, swinging back into the room, "nah. I would've known."

"I wasn't aware you had ESP."

I snorted, "it's the way you walk, Bruce swings his arms, but your clothes didn't rustle, you walk with your hands in your pockets. No rustling. And you both have quiet steps but his are long strides, you take smaller steps, lighter."

He shook his head, "do you notice everything?"

I shrugged, "what can I say, I've been heavily conditioned. Selina could give Mad-Eye Moody a run for his money with the constant vigilance thing."

He chuckled under his breath, "you should go to sleep. Concussions need rest to heal."

"Yeah yeah, Doctor Richard, I'll get right on that."

"Good."

I climbed in bed, pulling the blankets over my shoulders before over-exaggeratedly batting my eyelashes at him, "will you tell me a story?"

"Once upon a time there was an idiot named Arabella who hit her head and didn't tell anyone because she has a martyr complex and obsessively worries about everyone but herself. The end."

I bit my lip, "I only worry because I care. And because I can't lose anyone else. That's why I get so scared, like I did at Santa Prisca."

He made for the lamp, "I know," he hit the switch, plunging the room into darkness. I felt him tuck a piece of my hair behind my ear, and then I felt him leave.

I rolled over, curling into myself as I fell asleep. Today had been a hell of a day.


	6. Infiltrator

**Hooo boy, so this is being uploaded at 4AM on a Sunday, or I guess technically Monday? I was visited by the procrastination monster and more or less caught up on sleep for two days before writing this, which is why it's so late. But this installment marks the beginning of a hopefully regular upload schedule, so hooray for that. From now on I'll be posting every Sunday! I'm intending for this story to have at least 40 chapters, so I've got a looong way to go. I try to have every chapter have at least 6000 words, but I usually get a few thousand more than that, depending on how much goes on in each cordoned off section of the story, so it usually takes me a full day's worth of work to write a chapter and go over it. Anywho, see you next time!**

* * *

 **HAPPY HARBOUR MALL**

 _ **August 7, 13:37 EDT**_

* * *

When M'gann had informed me that she had never been to a mall, I had offered to take her as soon as I got the all-clear to resume normal life. She had clapped and thanked me profusely, which had at the time convinced me it would be worth it but now I wasn't so sure. We had made our way across the mall, getting her a cellphone which she had immediately programmed my number into and a handful of various articles of clothing.

Now we were in an Ardene, surrounded by hot pink and fake rhinestones, California Gurls was on it's third repeat and I was ready to stab someone. An overly peppy employee greeted us, going through the usual sale spiel and then we moved towards the bathing suits. Black Canary had suggested we have a beach day tomorrow, and M'gann didn't have anything to wear.

She examined a particularly horrendous number, with fringes a terrible shade of turquoise and animal print. I shook my head, "absolutely not, my mother would kill me if she knew I as much as looked at that."

M'gann dropped her hand, turning to look at me, "is it that bad?"

"I mean that, and she's a snob. I think she might faint if she knew I was shopping in a mall instead of some downtown boutique somewhere."

M'gann laughed and I directed her to much less terrible fashion options. Twenty minutes later we had settled on a yellow two-piece for M'gann, with boy-short bottoms and I had gotten a white one piece with a sweetheart neckline, spaghetti straps and a tiny diamond cut-out that showed my belly button.

For a second, for a second I mulled over the scars littering my back, the reason I never wore anything that showed my torso. My heart jumped up in my throat as I remembered how I had gotten them, scars I hated not because they were ugly but because of what they reminded me of. Of a little girl curled into a ball on a bed that would never really be hers, sobbing and hating how weak she was, how she couldn't fight back.

And then I did one of the breathing exercises Black Canary had shown me and the panic was manageable.

We walked out of the mall with bags of clothes and food we had grabbed from the Chinese place inside. I had made sure to get enough for everyone, and M'gann was tittering about some kind of hair product. By the time I was sitting in a chair on the Bioship, I was fine.

I swung my chair to face her, "so, you're into Superboy right? Like violently into him."

The Bioship jerked, a sure sign I had gotten to her. Her cheeks were on fire, skin she had reverted back to the normal martian green stained with pink. "What do you mean? Superboy and I are just friends, I mean not even really that, he doesn't really talk to me? He kind of just stands there? I mean not that he should talk to me, hello Megan! I'm an idiot and he's ridiculously perfect-" she abruptly cut herself off and I turned my chair back to face the window, a wide grin splitting my face.

"Oh you have it _bad_."

* * *

 **MOUNT JUSTICE**

 _ **August 7, 15:49 EDT**_

* * *

M'gann had tugged me with her to go show Dinah her purchases, who was monitoring while Red Tornado was on some mission. Dinah was a good sport, humming appreciatively at the appropriate times and assuring M'gann that yes, florals would look good on her.

I was currently in the middle of describing the swimsuit M'gann had been looking at, Black Canary laughing, "I'm telling you Dinah, it was _horrendous_. Worse than those outfits that Stephanie girl wanted for our recital last year.

Her nose wrinkled, obviously recalling the leopard-print leotards the dancer had wanted. Blissfully, the head costumer talked her out of it, and we were given simple black dresses. M'gann's ears almost perked up at the mention of a recital, and she turned to me with a soft smile, "do you perform?"

I nodded, "Catwoman more or less insisted that Rob I pick up an art form each, I chose dancing."

Her head cocked to the side, "what did he choose?"

I smirked, "sworn to secrecy on that one, sorry."

" _Please_ ," she begged, hands clasped in front of her. Her eyes were practically sparkling with curiosity.

"Nope," I replied, popping the p, "that kind of betrayal wouldn't go unpunished, god knows he has enough dirt on me to tell you something way worse."

She pouted, "I could just tug it out of your mind, you know."

I shook my head, "you wouldn't though."

"No, no I wouldn't," she sighed. Then she perked up almost immediately, "did you want to learn those blocking techniques still?"

Dinah raised an eyebrow, "blocking techniques?"

M'gann chattered on excitedly, "I was gonna show her how to protect her mind some from telepathy, Martians are taught how since birth, I think it might be why humans are so susceptible to mind control by telepaths."

I gave BC finger guns, "basically she's teaching me occlumency."

Dinah snorted, "you two have fun with that, I have to go see Green Arrow."

"You have to go _see_ GA?" I said, waggling my eyebrows suggestively.

She flicked a pillow at me on her way out, "oh hush."

M'gann tapped my shoulder, and I turned to see her with a wide smile on her face, "you wanna get started?"

* * *

 **MOUNT JUSTICE**

 _ **August 8, 09:58 EDT**_

* * *

I sighed, breathing in the hot air as we exited the Cave. The sun felt nice on my skin, and the salty smell of the wind was a refreshing change for my nostrils, which were clogged with the smell of Gotham's early morning traffic, the oppressive heat doing nothing for the smell of the city.

M'gann strode ahead of the rest of us, wakeboard clutched in one hand as she stretched her arms out and faced the sea. "Hello Megan! We should hit the beach every day!"

Rob smiled and then his face grew grim, turning his face down into his hand, "first, a moment of silence for our… absent comrade."

M'gann closed her eyes, lowering her head, "poor Wally."

I had to agree, the poor guy was stuck in Keystone High, for his very first day of the new semester. I shook my head, "what kind of hellscape of a school opens so early?"

After a few beats of quiet, Rob lifted his head. "Okay, moment of silence over, let's have fun."

We cheered, and I laid out a blanket to lounge on, basking in the warmth of the sun. Kaldur, in an odd change in demeanor grinned down at me, "the cat doesn't like water?"

I narrowed my eyes, "the cat doesn't believe in being anything less than pleasantly warm until at least noon."

He grinned even wider and suddenly I noticed Dick approaching my feet. Instantly growing suspicious I drew up my legs, but he already had a hold on my ankles, and Kaldur a grip on my wrists. I looked at him sadly, "et tu, Brute?" He simply grinned wickedly and they carried me within flinging distance of the water, swinging me back and forth, "please, please don't-" I was cut off by the sensation of flying through the air, having just enough time to take a deep gulp of air and plug my nose before I hit the ice-cold water.

Bubbles exploded up around me and my eyes screamed in irritation as the saltwater attacked them. I did however notice that they had thrown me in just deep enough for a viable revenge plan. I kicked in a little further, to where it was too dark for them to see me and waited.

My lungs were screaming for air and I was just about to give up and go sulk when I spotted a pale leg enter the waves, and I could just barely hear my name being called above water. I swam quietly forward, and then quickly grabbed Dick's ankle, yanking him down into the water. I resurfaced, gasping for air and laughing at the same time.

The others laughed too and M'gann tilted her head to the side, "what was that?"

I forced a solemn expression on my face, "betrayal."

The rest of the day was ridiculously fun, we swam and fooled around, Rob and I taught them how to grill hot dogs and marshmallows, we played beach volleyball, M'gann and I on a team against whichever boys felt like it and we won, ten to six. We even buried Superboy in a ridiculous mountain of sand. Kaldur was a mother hen, reminding us all to reapply sunblock and M'gann and Superboy seemed to be having a good time, thoroughly enjoying their first time at the beach.

We ended it all sat around a bonfire talking about whatever came to mind. I was in the middle of a story about one of Selina and I's escapades when we were interrupted by Red Tornado, who emerged from the Cave in his usual nonchalant manner. "You're all needed within the Cave, though please do suit up."

We exchanged looks, Kaldur giving RT our affirmation as we tidied up after ourselves. Walking towards my bedroom here, I pondered over what kind of mission could come up so abruptly.

After drying off, and slipping into my suit, I sighed at my hair. The saltwater had done it no good on the manageability front and now it was big and even curlier than usual, falling around my face in shoulders in what could only be described as a poof. I contemplated braiding it for once before shaking my head at myself for caring so much and pulled it up in it's usual high pony.

When I walked into the mission room, everyone was already there, the Team on one side and Red Tornado, Batman, GA and a girl I had never seen before on the other. My curiosity was piqued, to say the least and I strode to my usual place next to Robin.

The girl was taller than me, and clearly older as well. The mask made guessing hard but I'd put her anywhere between Wally and Kaldur's age. She was darkly tanned, with bright blonde hair. Clothed in green gear with GA's symbol emblazoned on her chest and a bow and quiver strapped to her back, it didn't take a genius to figure out she was Green Arrow's new protégé.

The thought stung, like the final nail in some proverbial coffin. Roy was never coming back, he'd never be Speedy again, we'd never spar for fun or watch rom-coms for the sole purpose of criticizing them again, he'd never be our Roy again. And damn if that didn't hurt.

The girl seemed almost nervous. Not the usual, bite-your-fingernails, sweaty palms nervous mind you. It was a kind of anxiety I knew too well, where you steel your face and become overly defensive in a desperate attempt not to let anyone know you give a shit. It was the kind of behaviour that came about out of necessity, not nature, and if I was curious before now I was invested. Just who the hell was this girl?

GA stepped forward, gesturing to her, "I'd like you all to meet Artemis."

I decided to be friendly, it wasn't this girls fault that Roy was a fucking asshole so I grinned, stepping towards her in a measured step that indicated interest but still gave her space. "Nice to meet you, Artemis is a cool name, y'know what with the…" I lamely made a bow-drawing motion.

She tilted her head slightly, eyes roving across my face like she was trying to analyze me. She stepped forward as well, though still maintaining space, "thanks. Can't take credit though, it's my actual name."

I blinked, "I can't tell if that's the best kind of bluff I've ever heard of or really stupid."

She shrugged, "more original than Catgirl."

My eyes narrowed, the sentence was another calculated move, a test to see how far she could go with me and how I reacted. I maintained total irreverence, "what can I say? It was the first thing that gone thrown out, has sentimental value."

She seemed almost pleased by my response and it disconcerted me that I didn't know why, or if she was faking it to confuse me.

The rest of the Team greeted her, and M'gann did so with the same sort of enthusiasm she did everything, practically bouncing up and down. Green Arrow smiled, hands on his hips, "she'll be your new teammate, I hope you'll all be very welcoming."

I grinned, "cool, it'll be nice to have another girl in this sea of testosterone."

We chatted almost absently, and when Wally made his grand entrance, it was nearly impossible not to laugh. In beach shorts with a towel around his shoulders and a line of sunblock down his nose, he looked ridiculous.

"Star… ted?" he finished lamely.

We all turned to reveal Artemis, who was smirking, "Wall-man huh? I _love_ the uniform. What exactly are your powers?"

He got up off the floor turning to Kaldur, "uh, who's this?"

"Artemis," she said, "your new teammate." Her tone was almost haughty, and it threw me for yet another loop. She didn't seem to be stuck up or overly full of herself, but she talked like this.

"Kid Flash, never heard of you."

GA spoke this time, coming forward to lay a hand on Artemis' shoulder, "um, she's my new protégé."

Wally looked surprised, "w-well what happened to your old one?"

Glados spoke, announcing an arrival from the Zeta tubes, " _recognized, Speedy B-07_."

Roy strode in, chest puffed out and shoulders thrown back. He paused in the entrance of the tube, "well for starters, he doesn't go by Speedy anymore. Call me Red Arrow."

I crossed my arms, gentle waves of irritation and pain roiling in my gut. I sighed, "just like you to make a dramatic entrance, Roy. You know, if you _really_ wanted to distance yourself you could have skipped over the 'insert colour here' plus arrow naming convention."

His lip curled a little, "like you can say anything, _Catgirl_."

I threw my hands up in the air, "why is everyone ragging on my name today!"

GA stepped forward, "Roy, you look-"

Roy cut him off, "replaceable."

"It's not like that, you told me you were going solo."

"So why waste time finding a sub?" Roy asked, "can she even use that bow?"

Artemis stepped forward, almost getting in Roy's face, "yes. She can."

"Who are you?" Wally exclaimed.

GA and Artemis spoke at the same time,

"I'm his niece,"

"She's my niece."

Rob chortled, "another niece?"

"But she is not your replacement," Kaldur assured, "we have always wanted you on the Team. And we have no quota on archers."

"And if we did," Wally interjected, "you know who we'd pick."

I raised an eyebrow, "do we?"

Wally turned to me, "what do you mean?"

"I mean," I said as I took a step closer to Roy, "this one's been a bit of an asshole lately and I'm having a really hard time wanting him for a teammate. If you don't remember how he referred to the Team?"

Roy shook his head, "you don't mean you don't trust me."

I swallowed, "no, I trust you. I'd put my life in your hands any day. What I am is holding a grudge," I gestured to him, "I don't know where the hell the Roy who was like an older brother to me went, but you're not him."

"He's still here, he just learned he doesn't have to be treated like a child and looked down on."

All at once I let every ounce of pain and confusion he ever caused me flood my face, he almost looked surprised, surprised that he had the power to cause me this much heartache. I spoke quietly, "you broke my heart at that dock, you know that don't you?"

For a second, for a just a second he looked torn. And then the mask of bravado and holier-than-thou bullshit slammed over his face. And Wally spoke again, "Ara's ability to hold a grudge aside, you know we'd pick you over her any day."

"Whatever Baywatch," Artemis sneered, "I'm here to stay."

"You came to us for a reason," Kaldur said, switching the subject. Batman was trying to catch my eye, most likely to send a reassuring look but I ignored it and stared at my feet. This was one of those moments, where everything shifts and nothing is ever the same.

"Yeah, a reason named Dr. Serling Roquette," Roy replied.

Robin's eyes widened as he began to furiously type at his holo-computer, "nano-robotics genius and claytronics expert at Royal University in Star City!" Her stats began to pop up on the screen in front of us, "vanished two weeks ago!"

"Abducted two weeks ago," Roy corrected, "by the League of Shadows."

"Whoa," Rob said excitedly, "you want us to rescue her from the Shadows?"

"Hardcore!" Wally whispered, bumping fists with Dick.

"I already rescued her," Roy said dismissively, "only one problem. The Shadows had already coerced her into creating a weapon." Pictures of a long, cylindrical tube made of dark metal appeared on the screen, alongside a gif of a tiny, beetle-esque thing that moved. "Doc calls it The Fog, comprised of millions of microscopic robots. Nano-tech infiltrators, capable of disintegrating anything in their path. Concrete, steel, flesh, bone." I shuddered at the imagery as Roy continued, "but it's true purpose isn't mere destruction, it's theft. The infiltrators eat and store raw data from any computer system, and deliver the stolen data to the Shadows."

I blinked, that kind of power, in anyone's hands would be disastrous, but the _Shadows_? The Shadows, who terrified even the most powerful informants I had on the other side of the game, who had given Abramo Rospera his scar. Roy kept going, "providing them access to weapons, strategic defense, cutting-edge science and tech-"

Artemis cut him off, "perfect for extortion, manipulation, power-broking, yeah. Sounds like the Shadows."

"Like you know anything about the Shadows," Wally scoffed. She simply smirked, her entire expression practically screaming 'oh you'd be surprised.' Wally threw his hands in the air, "who are you?!"

"Roquette's working on a virus to render The Fog inert," Roy interrupted.

"But if the Shadows know she can do that," Rob said slowly.

"They'll target her," Roy affirmed. "Right now she's off the grid, I stashed her at the local high school's computer lab."

"You left her alone?" GA accused.

"She's safe enough for now," Roy said defensively.

"Then let's you and I keep her that way," Oliver pleaded.

"You and I?" Roy asked sarcastically, "don't you want to take your new protégé?"

GA took another step forward, but before he could speak Bruce laid a hand on his shoulder and they exchanged a look. Oliver spoke, "you brought this to the Team, it's their mission." He gestured to Artemis, "which means it's hers now too."

Roy scoffed, "then my job's done." He stalked towards the Zetas, correcting the automated voice as he left. He wasn't Speedy anymore, he was Red Arrow. He would never be Speedy again.

* * *

 **HAPPY HARBOUR**

 _ **August 8, 21:53 EDT**_

* * *

I was crouching in the shadows with Robin and KF, Wally munching happily on a protein bar while Rob and I kept an eye out for threats. Roquette was typing away, and Artemis was sitting on her desk. Suddenly M'gann's voice filled my mind, and the sensation of a mind-link took place. "Everyone online?"

When we had been discussing using a mind link instead of comms, I had tried my best to explain to Artemis what it was;

 _She looked confused, head tilted and lips pursed. I tried to formulate a decent explanation, "it's like one of those old-school chatrooms in your head. You can tell everyone's there, kind of feel them but not every thought you think is transmitted through it all, if you looked at a poster and noticed it was blue, that wouldn't get thrown in there. You kind of have to think at the link, project your thoughts. Which makes it sound like it's difficult to invade someone's privacy but you project your thoughts all the time."_

 _She nodded, "sounds complicated and unpleasant."_

 _I laughed, "yeah that just about describes it."_

Now her voice was filtering through my head, " _this is… weird_."

" _And distracting_ ," Roquette snapped, " _coding a distributed algorithm virus on a kiddie computer with less RAM than a wristwatch is hard enough, now I have to hear teen think in my skull_?"

Wally took another bite of his protein bar, " _lady do you always complain when someone tries to help you_?"

" _Pot_ , _kettle_ ," Artemis retorted, " _have you two met_?"

" _Hey_ , _hey_ , _I do_ _not need attitude from the newbie who drove Red Arrow off the Team_!"

Artemis jumped to her feet as Roquette gave the universal gesture for ' _I give up_ ', " _that is_ _so not on me_."

" _Fate_. _Of the world_. _At stake_?" Roquette said angrily.

" _She started it_!" Wally grumbled.

" _Wally there is absolutely no reason to act like I five year old_ ," I snarled. " _Artemis had nothing to do with Roy choosing to be an asshat_. _He went solo, he made that choice, now he has to live with it_."

" _Just because you can't get over a few harsh words_ -"

I cut him off, " _a few harsh words_? _A few harsh words_?"

" _I'm sure he didn't mean it like that_ ," Kaldur said in an attempt to mollify me.

" _Oh what didn't he mean it like_? _Because I'm ninety-nine percent sure he more less said I was overreacting_!"

" _You know what_?" Artemis said, walking to the door, " _How about I just help Miss Martian and Superboy patrol the perimeter_?"

" _I'll go with you_ ," I said as I stalked after her.

" _Good idea_ ," Kaldur replied, tone frustrated.

" _You might want to cut her some slack_ ," Rob said, " _it was her arrow that saved your butt against Amazo_."

" _What_? _No_! _That was Speedy's_ , _I mean Red Arrows' arrow_ … _right_?"

" _Ehh_ , _not so much_."

Wally hmphed, " _well_ , _still not giving her the satisfaction_."

" _You know I can_ _still_ _hear you_ ," Artemis called across the link, and I had to suppress a snort of laughter.

" _I couldn't get the Justice League_ ," Roquette said bitterly.

" _I promise we're usually a million times more professional_ ," I reassured her, " _a certain redhead has just decided to act his shoe size_."

" _The virus won't be of much use is we cannot find the weapon," Kaldur said, "can you track it_?"

" _My utility fog_ _is_ _not_ _a weapon_ , _it's science_ , _brilliant_ _science_. _And of course I can track it_ , _but I'd have to online_. _Might as well rent a billboard with this address and 'assassinate me' written in neon_ ," Roquette snapped.

" _Just gonna throw this out there_ ," I said, voice dripping with sarcasm, " _but I'm sure whoever invented the first atomic bomb thought it was brilliant science_ _too_. _Also_ , _not really my place but I heard there was a store two blocks down selling some modesty_ , _you might want to pick some up on your way home_."

" _Shut it_!" she hissed, anger seeming to seep from her part of the link.

" _We will_ _protect you_ ," Kadur reassured, his voice, mind, whatever, warm and comforting.

She mentally sighed, " _tracking fog now_."

I took a deep breath as we walked through the door into the night, uncoiling my whip and hooking it around something on the roof, I gave Artemis a firm nod, and made for the roof, preferring a high vantage point to keep watch.

There was a reason I hated perimeter patrol, it was monotonous, made me ridiculously paranoid and reminded me of my first year with Bruce and Selina, when I had been forced to stay out of the action. I watched from over head, Superboy walked away from M'gann and Artemis, and Artemis' voice filled my head, full of appreciation. " _Mmm_ , _that boy_."

I almost fell off the roof, my surprise launching itself across the mind link. There were other reactions similar to mine, but I felt a faint bubble of laughter from Rob upon realizing I almost fell and a distinct sense of 'oh no she didn't' from M'gann. Almost immediately I remembered our conversation from yesterday, and wanted to bury my face in my hands.

It was strange though, the thought, while still filled with genuine admiration for Superboy's ridiculous conventionally-attractiveness, still felt a little calculated. A little like this girl, whoever she was, was still trying to get a feel for who we were and how we ticked.

I was again struck by the familiarity of that kind of action, and I wondered when she had learned to do things like that, lash out and see which way the water settled.

Superboy turned back to look at her, and M'gann's voice rang in my head, " _he can hear you_ , _we can_ _all_ _hear you_."

A small smirk decorated Artemis' mouth, " _oh I know_."

" _As much as I love having my young ears defiled_ ," I threw out, " _maybe we should go back to the task at hand_?"

" _Agreed_ ," Kaldur spoke, " _Miss Martian_ , _Dr. Roquette has located The Fog_. _Reconfigure the Bioship so that Robin and Superboy can pursue_ , _Catgirl you go with them_."

Sending along a twinge of assent, I dropped back down to the ground, noiselessly hitting the grass. I stalked up beside Artemis, sending her my best, 'I know what you're up to and I won't have it' look. She averted her eyes, rising from her previous crouch.

M'gann called the Bioship down and we ran for it, dashing up the ramp and into the cabin. The familiar smell of it hit me in the face, the air in the cabin practically tasting like distilled M'gann. It was one of the creepier aspects of the Bioship, so linked to M'gann's person that it smelled like her.

I didn't realize I was projecting my thoughts out into the link until Rob agreed with me, "yeah that is a little strange. Kind of creepier that you can track us all by scent though."

"So can this one," I said, jabbing my finger at Superboy. Free to actually talk inside the cabin, I took great pleasure in being able to use my vocal chords to communicate again.

"Yeah but I don't casually mention it in conversation," Superboy pointed out.

I sat down in my seat, the strange feeling that something was about to go terribly wrong settling over me. Despite it all, this mission didn't seem as quite as cut-and-dry as before.

* * *

The Bioship, amazingly fast as per usual, got us to Philadelphia in no time at all. Rob, who was flying the ship, was also tracking The Fog using his holo-computer. I always hated the Bioship in moments like this, nothing to really do except wait.

The sight of a city skyline filled the window, the lights from skyscrapers and apartment complexes glowing over the Delaware. I sat up straighter in my seat, my eyes adjusting to the light, thermal sight leaking into my vision. Rob lifted his wrist, speaking into the comms, "Robin to Aqualad! We're over Philadelphia, we've located the Shadows' next target, STAR Labs."

My jaw dropped slightly as I watched the STAR Labs building crumble in on itself. It resembled an ancient ruin, a stark contrast to the sign left untouched outside it, pristine and vaguely futuristic looking to match the STAR aesthetic.

Rob shook his head a little sadly, "we're too late. It's destroyed, totally destroyed, The Fog decimated it. This is bad, STAR Labs is cutting-edge science and now their secrets are in the hands of the enemy." The three of us exchanged a look and Rob sighed, "what's our next move?"

Kaldur's voice was grainy across the comms, and he was clearly speaking to someone else, "re-scan for that Fog, find it. We're moving the Doctor."

The comm line cut out and I ran my hands over my face, digging the heels of my palms into my eyelids until colours bloomed against the black of my vision. Probably not good for the contacts, but hey if they can't take a little jostling then clearly they need some improvements.

We followed Roquette's tracking in camouflage mode, blending in perfectly with the smoggy night sky. I immediately turned in my seat when I heard Rob do the little gasp in the back of his throat he only did when he was surprised and/or nervous. His eyes met mine across the cabin, "the next target is a Wayne Tech facility."

I had to force myself to stay in my seat, what the hell was the League doing attacking Wayne Tech? Either they thought there was something important cooking in Research and Development or someone had an inkling as to who Bruce really was. Rob continued on, the smallest undertone of panic in his voice, "in theory it's system's software could be used to hack-" he cut himself off, looking over at me helplessly.

"The what?" Superboy asked, turning to the two of us.

The Batcave. It ran on practically identical software to the one at Wayne Tech thanks to Lucius, if the Shadows got their hands on that software… Rob turned back to his holo-computer, "doesn't matter. W-what matters is that Wayne Tech operates a twenty-four hour workforce. We'll never evacuate the building in time!"

I launched myself from my chair, tightening my ponytail, "they have their own security protocols, they're not just going to stand there and getting eaten alive by nano-robots. What we have to do is make sure the Shadows _never_ get their hands on that software."

Rob nodded in affirmation, opening the hatch. A progress bar blinked to life above his wrist and he turned to it, "it's downloading!"

Superboy turned to face the open air, a determined expression suddenly overtaking his features, "don't need it!"

"Superboy!" Rob called after him, hand outstretched as if he could yank Supey back as he plummeted towards the ground. I groaned, peering downwards as I watched Superboy get blasted back with a beam of light, which meant one thing and one thing only, Professor Ojo.

I watched in horror as The Fog lifted from the long metal canister Ojo was toting, and with one shared look Rob and I jumped, using the streetlights to chase The Fog into Wayne Tech. We tore down the hall, a security guard yelling at us from behind as we ran. A large metal gate started to lift down from the ceiling, blocking our way. Rob called out a command as we approached, "Wayne Tech override RG4!"

I blinked while we ran and yelled out a command of my own, "Wayne Tech override TL6!" It was a command that would create a pop-up on every screen connected to the network that informed the reader to evacuate the building, useful during lockdowns and fires.

We rolled under the gate as it lifted up above us, the only sound that of our feet hitting the hallway, and then suddenly the building erupted in screams as The Fog tore through it. Rob looked up from his wrist, "the nearest computer is in the cafeteria!"

I nodded, preparing to veer right as we ran. Every Wayne Tech building had the exact same layout, which made our job just the tiniest bit easier. We dashed into the room, a worker in an apron staring out at the carnage in fear and shock. Rob pulled the USB cable from his wrist, connecting it to the computer. She turned to us, speaking in a heavy Philadelphian accent, "what's goin' on? What're you doin'?

Rob ignored her, "please be linked to the mainframe, _please_ be linked to the mainframe."

I grabbed the lady's arm, pointing at the door, "what the hell are you waiting for? People like you in movies _die_!"

She ripped her arm from my grip, running for the door and screaming as she went. I turned to Robin, who was desperately typing away at his screen. I opened my mouth and then shut it, deeming nothing I could possibly say to be of any value.

I was practically biting my nails as pieces of the ceiling fell around us, watching the progress bar on Rob's screen fill up. Suddenly the screen of the computer exploded in red, like a bloodstain made of pixels, and all of my hair started to stand on end as electricity practically hummed through the room. The Fog faded to the same crimson as well, the room quieting as the nano-bots fell to the ground.

"Yes!" Rob hooted, "the infiltrators have been _out_ -filtrated."

I sighed in pure relief, the tension in my muscles unfurling as I flung my arms around his neck, squishing him in a hug. "We did it."

He pulled back, hand resting on my elbow, "yeah, we did." Suddenly his face screwed up in laughter as he started to snicker, "your hair looks absolutely ridiculous."

I caught my reflection in a piece of broken glass, my ponytail ridiculously poofy as if I had just stuck my finger in a socket. I scowled, punching him lightly in the arm, "manners!"

* * *

 **MOUNT JUSTICE**

 _ **August 8, 23:09 EDT**_

* * *

We started the process of debriefing, a practically redundant procedure where they dragged each of us in one by one to get our first-hand accounts for the record, and then assembled us all in the Mission Room where Bats could yell at us.

I was splayed across an armchair, rather pleased with the surprising lack of injuries I had sustained during this mission. Artemis was a few feet across from me, given that we were the last two to go. I toyed with the idea of cutting straight to the chase, but I decided slow buildup was the way to go with her.

Twirling a piece of my too-frizzy hair around my finger, forming my face into the picture of bored nonchalance, I turned to her. "So that assassin, Cheshire, she got away?"

Artemis crossed her arms, turning her head to the side and slumping further back into her seat, "yeah, what about it?"

I blinked, "I'm not accusing you of anything, just curious." She made a little _hmph_ noise and I sat up, leaning forward in my chair to face her, "look. You're new here, I get it. But at least to me, you don't have anything to prove. Bats and GA saw fit to make you a member of this team, and I trust the both of them with my life. By extension, if they have faith in you, I have faith in you."

She raised an eyebrow, "that seems like a stupid policy, what if they're mistaken?"

I laughed, leaning backwards, "Batman doesn't make mistakes. Not like this. Trust me, he's too damn scared of my mom to let anyone even slightly fishy on a Team where we're expected to have each other's backs, plus he wouldn't risk Rob's life like that either."

Her eyes seemed to fill with interest, "your mom's Catwoman right? The notorious cat burglar?"

I nodded, "she's picked up a slightly more legal gig these days but every so often I'll wake up to a random fancy thing in our apartment that she has no valid explanation for."

"And Batman just lets her get away with it?"

I smirked, "minor crimes, really. And Cat has Batman wrapped around her little finger in more ways than one, if you catch my drift." She wrinkled her nose, and I had to stifle a laugh, "so yes, I have a fabulous kleptomaniac for a mother. Who also happens to be insanely overprotective."

"So is she how you started this whole thing? With her connection to Batman?"

I paused, trying to piece together an answer that gave her exactly the amount of information I wanted to share. Nodding, I spoke slowly, "she had to give me up to my father, when I was little. He ended up dying, and I was bounced around foster homes and lived on the street for a while. Then she found me, adopted me and I begged her to let me be a part of this life. And now here I am."

She nodded, eyes widening as she took in the information. I sighed, "I guess what I'm trying to say is that I know what it's like, coming from a hard life. I don't know how you had it difficult, but I recognize the signs. Wally might be an ass, and so is Roy, but the rest of us are glad to have you. You don't need to pinprick at us to see how we react or where the line in the sand is. We'll accept you, I promise."

Dinah called my name and I stood, dusting off my legs, "it's nice to meet you Artemis. I really hope we can be friends."

As I walked away, I heard her mutter under her breath, a feat that would have been impossible without my ear pieces, "yeah I hope so too." I felt a small smile bloom across my face, and ducked my head as I entered the little room where Black Canary would interrogate me for a half-hour. This girl was a hell of an enigma, but I loved a challenge.


	7. Denial

**Hoo boy. Okay, so no real reason for the lateness of this chapter, I had about five million tests, participated in a Model UN and got a major role in a play my school's putting on. So, very busy but still. Anywho, we're introduced to two new characters in this chapter, who may prove important later down the line ;) It's a pretty short chapter, but hopefully the new faces make up for it! See you next time!**

* * *

 **GOTHAM**

 _ **August 19, 15:04 EST**_

* * *

I stepped out of the studio into the waiting area with a sigh, tucking my pointe shoes into my bag. Practice had been killing me lately, between the intensives we were doing and all the missions with the Team. I still loved every second of it though, savoring the feeling of flying across the gleaming hardwood.

I was surprised when a hand tapped me on the shoulder, turning to find a girl roughly my height. She was beautiful, with deeply tanned skin and hair the colour of cinnamon. She had big brown doe eyes, framed with thick, dark eyelashes. She wasn't wearing a uniform, so I assumed she was looking for a little brother or sister. I pointed down the hall, "the little kids dance down there, in Studio Three. They get out a little later than us, in about five minutes."

She laughed, deep and warm, "no, it's you I'm looking for actually. Are you Arabella Williams?"

I nodded, "that's me. What do you need?"

"I'm a musician, I go to the music school across the street? Anyway, we've been doing classical pieces for the summer session and every student needs at least one dancer to perform to their portfolio. I came over here, and your teacher recommended you."

I blinked, "why would they have dancers? Doesn't that just take away from the music?"

She shook her head, "it's not your typical school of music. We're taught for practical application, everyone who goes there wants to be either famous or a songwriter, not a composer or anything. The recital's on the thirty-first, if you're up for it."

"That's…" I trailed off, doing the mental math in my head, "less than two weeks. There's no way I can choreograph dances to multiple pieces and teach them to other dancers in less than two weeks."

Instead of seeming disappointed, she only got more excited, "okay. But here's the thing, we only need one dancer each, so you won't have to teach them to anyone. I wrote the pieces to be solos anyway, plus there's only three of them. It'd be a great opportunity for you too, any dancers who take part in the recital get like, a ridiculous amount of prestige. It'd be great for a resume or something, if you guys have those."

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. She had a point, "I'll need flexible hours, and if it comes down to it and everything goes to shit, don't blame me."

She threw her arms around me, " _thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou_! I know this is going to be perfect." She pulled back, "do you have time to listen to the pieces now?"

I glanced up at the clock, "I have a few hours yeah. Lead me to the nearest piano."

She grabbed my wrist, pulling me out the door as a small army of six-year-olds in tutus and leotards spilled from the hallway. A sense of clarity came over me as the cold air hit my face and I turned to this random girl, "what's your name by the way?"

She turned back with a wide smile, "Jessica Vasquez, but everyone calls me Jessi."

I nodded, "alright Jessi, feel free to call me anything but Bella. Now, show me your stuff."

* * *

 **MOUNT JUSTICE**

 _ **August 19, 19:39**_ _**EDT**_

* * *

I sighed, rolling my shoulders to work out the tension as I made my way over to Artemis and M'gann. Between practice earlier and the several rounds I had fought against Superboy, I was convinced I was developing chronic back pain.

Artemis nodded toward the circle, "Kaldur's, uh, nice, don't you think?" She turned to M'gann, "handsome, commanding, you should totally ask him out."

I rolled my eyes as I cracked open a bottle of water, taking a swig. What Artemis was trying to do was hardly subtle, and it was no secret that the both of them were into Superboy.

M'gann shook her head gently, "he's like a big brother to me, but y'know who would make the _cutest_ couple? You and Wally!" I snorted, so M'gann was neither oblivious nor a non-participant in this 'let's pretend we're not into the same guy and make subtle jabs and suggestions' game. "You're so full of passion, and he's so full of…"

"It?" Artemis suggested.

We all laughed, and I took another long drink from my bottle. Artemis turned to me, "what about you? Aren't you and Boy Wonder a thing?"

I choked on my water, doubling over as I desperately tried to intake air and speak at the same time, "what? No! _Whatareyoutalkingaboutdefinitelynot_."

Artemis smirked, "methinks the lady doth protest too much."

I grabbed her arm to steady myself as I hacked, the water burning my nose and my lungs burning as two too many hydrogen molecules entered them. The boys, thankfully sans Rob as he was off with Bats, apparently having finished with their match, all approached us, "everything okay over here?"

I sucked in a few lungfuls of air, "just peachy."

Red Tornado descended from the ceiling, where his living chambers were, and Wally zoomed over to him, "you have a mission for us?

"Mission assignments are The Batman's responsibility."

Wally shrugged, "yeah well, The Batman's with The Robin, doing the Dynamic Duo thing in Gotham. But you're headed somewhere right? Hot date? Or, uh, a _mission_?"

Kaldur glared at the back of Wally's head, "if we _can_ be of help."

Red Tornado turned to the holo-computer, pulling up the image of a tall, old man with a cane and additional information popping up in windows next to him, "this is Kent Nelson. A friend. He is one-hundred and six years old."

"Guy doesn't look a day over ninety," Wally muttered.

"And he has been missing," RT continued, "for twenty-three days. Kent was a charter member of the Justice Society, the precursor to your mentor's Justice League."

"Of course," Kaldur said, with the air of someone who had just heard the answer to a trivia question he couldn't answer, "Nelson was Earth's sorcerer supreme. He was Doctor Fate!"

Wally leaned over to whisper to Artemis, scoffing, "more like Doctor Fake. Guy knows a little advanced science and Dumbledores it up to scare the bad guys and impress the babes."

I switched my attention to the pair of them, M'gann might have been onto something with those two, pissing contest or no.

Red Tornado turned from the screen, "Kent may simply be on one of his… walkabouts. But he is caretaker to the helmet of Fate, the source of the Doctor's mystic might. And it is unwise to leave such power unguarded."

"He's like the great sorcerer priests and priestesses of Mars," M'gann said with reverence, "I would be honored to help find him."

Wally's hand zoomed into the air, "me too! So honored, I can barely stand it." He held his fingers up in the rock on symbol, "magic… rocks."

I desperately wished Rob were here for me to make sarcastic eye contact with, instead, I turned to Artemis and rolled my eyes, and her expression showed that she echoed the sentiment.

"Take this," Red Tornado said, holding up an ancient-looking key, "it is the key to the Tower of Fate."

Kaldur took it from him, and Wally turned to M'gann, voice low in a desperate attempt to appear smooth and charming, "what are the chances we'd both _so_ admire the mystic arts?"

I threw my hands up in the air, frustration boiling over in my stomach and Artemis offered me a sympathetic look, "is it always like this?"

I sighed, moving towards the hangar where the Bioship awaited, "almost always."

* * *

"So, Wally," Artemis said, voice dripping with sarcasm, "when did you first realize your… _honest_ affinity for sorcery?"

I leaned back in my chair, ready to jump from 8000 feet. I had propped my feet on the empty chair in front of me, it sitting there like M'gann had forgotten there would only be six of us instead of the regular seven.

Wally turned his gaze to M'gann in the pilot's chair, "well, I don't like to brag, but uh, before I became Kid Flash," he tucked his arms behind his head in pose of casual arrogance, "I seriously considered becoming a wizard myself."

We all stared at him in pure, 'you have to be fucking kidding me' and then turned away. I faked a sneeze, coughing lightly, "sorry, I'm allergic to bullshit."

Wally glared at me, and Artemis snorted. I was growing to like this girl more and more every day, she was fiery and sarcastic, my two favorite attributes.

"We've reached Tornado's coordinates," M'gann announced, "but…"

"Nothing's there," Superboy finished.

We stared out into the Salem night, there was nothing but a dark, dirty parking lot. "Take us down," Kaldur requested, and M'gann landed the Bioship, still in camo-mode.

We piled out onto the ground, observing the empty. I pulled out my cat gear from the pocket of my jacket, popping a pill, slipping in my ear pieces and using the black of my phone screen to put in my contact lenses. I sighed, blinking to adjust to the improved senses. I never quite felt like myself until I had done all this.

"You see anything Arabella?" Kaldur asked, and I shook my head.

"Whatever happened to hide this tower, I can't see through it. But…" I stepped forward, walking in circles and then backing away, "this whole lot, the grass, the pavement, everything, it smells like a woman's perfume."

Wally ran about, testing for something. He came to a skidding stop in front of us, "nothing, this isn't a simple camouflage."

"So… what do you think?" Artemis asked, "adaptive micro-optical electronics combined with phase-shifting?"

"Absolutely!" Wally said, clearly mildly impressed with her sudden nerdage. M'gann approached, "not," he added quickly, "clearly mystic powers are at work here."

I pinched the bridge of my nose, muttering under my breath, "I am going to roll my eyes so hard they fall out."

Kaldur patted me on the shoulder, "people will make fools of themselves to impress those they care for."

"Not me," I announced, "they can either like me or they can fuck off, none of this pretending to like something for the sake of it bullshit. I can't stand it."

He looked down at the key, an apparent lightbulb going off in his head, "a test of faith." He stepped forward, "stand behind me." He paused a foot in front of us and stretched out his arm, seemingly inserting the key into empty air. There was the sound of a lock turning, and suddenly a huge, medieval-style tower appeared in front of us.

My jaw dropped, and Kaldur pushed the door open. It swung to reveal darkness, and we started walking forward, "nothing quite like wandering into creepy, randomly-appearing towers on a school night," I muttered as I followed Kaldur in.

The door slammed shut behind us, and I had the sudden feeling that I was in a horror movie. I turned, and there was only faded, dirty stone.

Superboy voiced my thoughts, "uh, where'd the door go?"

A hologram of Kent Nelson appeared in front of us, coloured in sepia tones. He appeared stern, "greetings. You have entered with a key, but the Tower does not recognize you. Please state your purpose and intent."

The message was akin to an automatic voicemail, but it was a lot more… human, coming from the mouth of a hundred-and-six year old man. Wally looked back at M'gann and then stepped forward, voice full of false reverence, "we are true believers, here to find Doctor Fate."

The hologram tilted its head slightly, eyes almost sad, and then disappeared. Then the floor exploded from beneath us. A scream tore from my throat as we plummeted down towards a pit of fucking lava, and I practically ripped my jacket pocket open in an attempt to get my gloves.

I slid them on and then dug my claws into the rock, Superboy apparently having the same idea. I thanked God for my height as his feet dipped into the lava and he let out an animalistic cry of pain. Yanking his feet out, his shoes were just completely gone and anywhere his pants had touched the magma had been burned away, leaving his pant legs tattered.

"Those," he said with a pant, "were my favorite boots. This Nelson guy better be worth it."

I looked up to see Artemis holding a grapple gun in one hand and Kaldur in the other, and M'gann floating above us with Wally in her arms. I turned back to Superboy, "consider yourself lucky that one-thousand degree molten rock is practically a dip in boiling water for you."

I eyed the pit beneath us, the brightness of it practically searing my retinas. Suddenly I noticed M'gann above me, and I realized she was descending, "everything okay up there?"

"Having trouble… maintaining altitude," she choked out, swiping at her forehead, "ugh, I'm so hot."

"You certainly are," Wally said.

"Wally!" Artemis snapped, grunting under Kaldur's weight.

"Hey!" He jabbed a thumb at himself, "inches above sizzling death, I'm entitled to speak my mind!"

"My physiology, and M'gann's, are susceptible to extreme heat. We must climb out quickly!" Kaldur said, clearly in distress.

"Hello Megan!" M'gann said, slapping herself on the forehead, "we never truly… answered the question." Her words were interspersed with pants, and she called upwards, "Red Tornado sent us! To see if Mr. Nelson, and the helmet, were safe!"

Suddenly two semicircles made of the same patchwork stone the Tower walls were slid over the lava. We all jumped down, the stone surprisingly cold. Kaldur crouched down, webbed hands splayed across it, "this platform… it should be red hot. But it is cool to the touch."

"Don't worry Megalicious," Wally said, wrapping his arm around M'gann, "I gotcha."

I was about to go off on him when Artemis did my job for me, "enough!" She grabbed Wally by the throat, pushing him back into the wall of the pit, "your little impress Megan at all costs game, nearly got us all barbecued!"

"When did this become my fault?" He defended.

"When you _lied_ to that… whatever it was! And called yourself a true believer."

M'gann stepped forward, "Wally, you don't believe?"

He stared between the two of them, torn. Then he threw his hands in the air, "fine! Fine! I lied about believing in magic. But magic is the real lie, a major load."

"Wally," Kaldur said from the floor, "I studied for a year at the Conservatory of Sorcery in Atlantis. The mystic arts created the skin icons that power my water-bearers."

"Dude, did you ever hear of bioelectricity?" Wally asked, "hey, in primitive cultures, _fire_ was once considered magical too. Today it's all just a bunch of tricks."

"You're pretty close minded for a guy who can break the sound barrier in his sneakers," Artemis retorted.

"That's. Science. I recreated Flash's laboratory experiment and here I am. Everything can be explained by science."

"You're missing the point dingus," I said, stalking forward, "whether this Tower is using magic or lie recognition technology, you lying to the hologram about our intent? Not smart, and it almost killed us. So instead of going on a pointless rant, how about you apologize to the people you almost got burned alive and to M'gann for deceiving her?"

"Excuse me?" He asked.

I grit my teeth. "You. Heard. Me. Now repeat after me, I'm sorry for lying."

He stared down at his sneakers, "I'm sorry for lying."

"And I'm sorry for making you think I believe in magic to earn your affections."

He turned to M'gann, "I'm sorry for making you think I believe in magic to earn your affections."

"And generally for hitting on you all the time resulting in everyone around me contemplating suicide."

"And generally-" he cut himself off, "hey!"

"Now that that's out of the way, why don't we test your theory Wally?" Kaldur asked, grabbing the handle of a trapdoor that materialized in the stone.

"Wait!" He called out in horror, "the backdraft from the lava will roast us alive!"

Kaldur opened it to reveal a snowy landscape, little flakes of the stuff blowing up into my face and hair. I sputtered, swiping at the air. Artemis ducked, "hey! Watch where you swing those things!"

I gave her an apologetic smile as M'gann stretched out to touch it, "it's snow!"

Artemis turned to Wally, "do you ever get tired of being wrong?"

We jumped through, and I tumbled down into the cold sideways. I winced as the snow hit my bare legs, standing up as quickly as possible. All around us there were mountains, and a cold wind whipped my ponytail and shirt. Artemis turned to Wally, "well?"

"Ever heard of string theory?" He said defensively, "we're in a pocket dimension."

"Ugh," she said with palatable disgust.

M'gann turned around, "what's that?"

I looked to where she was pointing to find a floating, ornately carved cane. Artemis stepped towards it, curiosity painted across her face. Wally rolled his eyes, "ooh, maybe it's Nelson's magic wand." He dashed forward, wrapping his hand around it at the same time Artemis did. They spoke in unison, "I got it!" It started to glow gold and they spoke at the same time again, "I can't let go!"

Suddenly they zoomed into the sky, pulled along by the cane and then disappearing in a golden flash like the portal here had. We looked at each other, and I buried my face in my hands, "idiots. They're both idiots."

We trudged onwards, and I marveled at how the snow stayed flat, not squishing around my converse to bite at my ankles the way regular snow would. M'gann turned to us, hair flapping in the wind, "I don't understand Wally. It's like he _needs_ to believe the impossible can't happen."

"Wally uses his understanding of science to control what he cannot comprehend," Kaldur said. "Acknowledging the existence of magic would be to relinquish the last vestige of that control."

"Plus," I chimed in, "it's hard to explain and not my story to tell, but let's just say Wally put his last bet on science. It's practically a religion for him, so for it to prove fallible?" I shook my head, "he couldn't accept it."

Superboy caught my eye, and I inclined my head slightly. We both knew about Wally's dad, how he hated his son's fixation. Me, because I had almost killed him when I saw the bruises, and Superboy when he stayed there after we found him in Cadmus.

Suddenly there was a loud crunching sound as a piece of the sky opened up, leading somewhere that looked decidedly warmer than here. Superboy stalked forward, "well, what are we waiting for?"

As always, the transition was unpleasant. We fell to the floor, and I nursed a sore elbow as I stood. There was a giant golden bell… and Artemis and Wally with Kent Nelson? I blinked, "I see you guys found the old-timer." He was taller in real life, and carried himself well. He had the air of a mischievous grandfather, always with a laugh and a trick up his sleeve.

Looking around, there seemed to be an endless amount of staircases, all in different directions and distances, though each seemed to have it's own proper sense of gravity. It was all very Alice in Wonderland. "Okay, Hogwarts on steroids," I muttered, dusting myself off.

M'gann landed gracefully next to me, and Nelson turned to Artemis and Wally, "friends of yours?"

I walked forward towards Artemis, unbelievably happy to see her, "I thought you guys might've gotten lost."

She smiled slightly, "no, but we've got company. Abra-"

A beam of electricity flying at our heads cut her off. I turned to find Abracadabra and a dark haired kid who looked like the spawn of Satan. Said Satan-spawn was holding a cat, an orange tabby maybe. Except it didn't smell like a cat, it smelled like roadkill left to decompose. And the boy himself had an acrid scent that seared my nostrils and left me gagging.

"Friends of yours?" Wally asked as we ran for cover, bolts of energy hitting behind us.

Nelson hit the giant bell with his cane, and walked directly into it, Wally following behind him, and the Satan-spawn flew towards us, vanishing into the bell too. I ran towards it, only for my hands to meet smooth metal.

I whipped around to face the rest of the Team, eyes wide, and choked down a noise of pain as a bolt from Abracadabra's wand caught me in the shoulder. I rolled around the side of the bell and wished I had brought my whip with me. Or that Dick was here, with the utility belt he never left behind.

Superboy ran towards Abracadabra with a roar, and was met with a bolt from his wand. Instead of causing an electric shock, the bolt formed a strange sort of cage of electricity. Superboy cried out, and I had the sudden urge to claw Abracadabra's face off.

I stepped out from behind the bell, "didn't anyone tell you the whole open-at-the-neck white shirt deal is overdone? You look like the knock off version of one of those characters on the cover of a harlequin romance novel."

Abracadabra growled, "you're just as annoying as your bitch of a mother."

I took off towards him, seeing red. My need to see his blood covering the stone of the floor was cut off by Artemis yanking my arm, sending me flying back as a bolt hit where I had been standing. I was practically seeping with anger, trying to conceive a viable plan of action. I turned back to Artemis, "thank you."

"Hey, no prob- watch out!"

The warning came too late, and suddenly there was a cage of electricity surrounding me. It felt like a million little lightning bolts coursing through me wherever I touched it, and there was a distinct hum that filled my ears. I felt tears prick my eyes and tried to fight off the black at the edge of my vision. Desperate to know what was happening outside my cage, I peered out to see practically the whole team in the same position, Artemis getting caught up as she fired a bolt from her crossbow.

I couldn't hold back the noises of pain ripping from my throat. We were in way over our heads, we should have had the whole team, our suits and a plan of action. Now we were trapped by Abracadabra and a twelve-year-old of all fucking people inside a magical tower that also happened to be invisible.

I full-on screamed as Abracadabra shot me with another bolt of electricity, the pain searing each and every single one of my nerve endings. He seemed to go in a nonsensical order, zapping whomever he felt like.

Suddenly the pain stopped completely, the black fading out of my vision. I rose to my feet, a little shaky and out of breath. If I hadn't just been essentially electrocuted for the past five minutes, I might've laughed when I saw Abracadabra wearing nothing but underwear, looking very surprised with a golden, glowing ankh behind him.

"Shows over," Superboy said, blissfully sucker punching Abracadabra in the face.

He fell to the ground, fully unconscious and I peered down at him, "is it horrible to wish him some head trauma?"

"No," Artemis said, crossing her arms, "I'd say that's a fitting punishment."

M'gann walked up next to us, clutching her head, "where's Wally? And Mr. Nelson?"

* * *

On the Bioship, Wally broke down the story, how Klarion had killed Nelson, and Wally had eventually been forced to put on the helmet, letting Nabu take over his body. There was a heavy silence in the air once he was done, I could tell Nelson's death had done something to him, changed him in some fundamental way I couldn't put my finger on.

Eventually I broke the silence, "okay, so I'm officially proclaiming this the single most whack mission we've ever been on."

There was a chorus of agreements and then silence again, and then Kaldur spoke, "so those were his last words? 'Find yourself your own little spitfire'?"

"Yup," Wally replied, popping the p and staring dead out the window.

"I for one," I said with a smirk, "think that Mr. Nelson has granted you wonderful advice you should ruminate on."

M'gann caught my eye and smiled. We both knew she hadn't been entirely joking when she mentioned Artemis and Wally, they would be good for each other. She would let him know when he was being an idiot, and him with his downright dogged persistence? He would never give up on her, which, if my hunches were correct, she might need.

As for her and Superboy, that would never work out. There was a reason why I had been trying to set up him and M'gann ever since I figured out she was into him. He needed someone like her, warm, kind and forgiving. She would put up with his angst and general ridiculousness whereas someone like Artemis would only get frustrated. And he would be good for her, with his accepting nature and single-minded focus. Plus she seemed to be the only person he genuinely liked spending time with.

The Bioship landed smoothly as always, the hangar doors whirring shut behind us. We walked down the ramp with a distinct sense of guilt and somberness. We had brought Nelson's body back with us, draped in a white sheet someone had found in the back cabin, lying on the slab we kept there in case one of us needed immediate medical attention.

Batman and Robin were waiting for us in the mission room. We had radioed in to report before we got there, and so there were no questions, only silence as we filed into line with our heads down. Rob moved away from Bats, sliding into his usual place beside me. He laid his hand on my shoulder, a question. I flicked my eyes towards Wally, indicating that he was the one that needed comforting. He nodded, making his way to Wally's side.

Batman strode over to us, stopping about two feet ahead. I could almost see his expression beneath the cowl, somber and sincere, "missions will go wrong. Today was one of those days, and I assure you, there was nothing you could do to avoid it. There were forces at play you were unaware of and unprepared for, and that is partially the League's fault. There will be individual debriefings as always, and if any of you feel the need to speak with Black Canary, let me know and I will arrange it."

None of us stepped forward and he nodded, "you all did the best you could with the circumstances you were given. We will take precautions to make sure nothing like this happens again, but as it stands, good work."

We all piled into the living room to wait for the debriefings, and I flung myself onto the couch. Artemis flopped down next to me, M'gann on my other side. The boys all took various chairs, and there was a few seconds of awkward silence before I raised myself a little off the couch, "anyone wanna hear how I was convinced to choreograph three pieces for a girl I don't know in twelve days?"

Rob smiled, "this has got to be good."

* * *

 **GOTHAM**

 _ **August 20, 18:34**_

* * *

"I'm coming with you," Dick said stubbornly.

I rolled my eyes, shrugging on my coat, "no. No you are not."

He made a small noise of frustration, "I just fail to see why you have to go alone."

"Because if I go with anyone, Tommy's going to spook. We've had this talk literally every time I go."

"You're failing to mention that the reason he'll spook is because he's a wanted criminal. You sit down at a table across from Abramo Rospera's son once a month."

I sighed, facing him and laying my hands on his shoulders, staring him straight in the eye, "Dick. I will be fine. I can take care of myself, I assure you Tommy Rospera is not a threat."

"Oh come on, you're overprotective twenty-four-seven. You practically have a coronary if I duck away for five seconds during a mission, let me have this."

I tossed the thought around for a minute and then sighed, dropping my arms, "fine. But you have to wear a mask, you take a separate taxi there and you enter five minutes after me and sit at a separate table."

"Deal."

Ten minutes later he was outfitted in tux and clutching a deep blue wolf mask, lined with silver detailing. Mine was cream coloured and shaped like a cat, with gilded edges, and Selina had put me in a little black dress with Louboutins and my hair pulled back in an updo.

I puffed a loose curl out of my eyes, "will you help me put this on?"

He laughed, "no problem." Grabbing the mask from my hand, he turned me by the shoulder and placed the mask around my face, tying the ribbon behind my head. I jumped a little as his fingers grazed the back of my neck on the way down, stepping forward to open the door.

"Okay. See you soon I guess?"

He nodded and I walked out to the waiting cab, giving the driver the address for the restaurant Tommy would be waiting for me at. The drive was rather silent, the cabbie sensing I wasn't in a chatting mood. Instead, I watched the scenery go past, the more rural-looking outskirts of Gotham where the Wayne Manor resided fading to dirty brick and concrete, lit by neon signs and street lamps. For better or for worse, I loved this city.

The cab pulled to the front entrance, and a valet guy stepped forward to help me out. I gave him a small, gracious smile and walked the rest of the way to the door alone, it being opened by the doorman, who took my coat. The restaurant was filled with people in masks like me, the Rosetta was known for this. All customers and servers were required to wear masks, making it a hotbed for criminal activity.

I strode to the hostess stand, "table for two, Rospera?"

She smiled, her cheeks causing the fox mask she wore to glint in the light. Behind them, I could just make out a pair of bright green eyes. She lead me towards the back, where I spotted Tommy waiting for me at a table for two a little too cozy for my liking. He was wearing a lion mask, the bright gold of it contrasting with the dark of his hair and suit. I settled down across from him, placing my clutch in my lap, "hello Tommy."

He grinned widely, "Catgirl! Always a pleasure. Such a shame I have no real name to call you by."

I rolled my eyes, "if you had an alias you went by, that's what I'd be calling you. Now, let's get down to business."

"Now now, they haven't even brought out the breadsticks yet. No shame in mixing business with a bit of pleasure, how've you been?"

"Fine, you?"

"Well, Nicolai is as insane as ever, and my father's in jail, leaving me to run his vast criminal empire. Does the word busy suffice?"

A bubbly blonde approached with menus and a notepad, her mask one of some kind of songbird, bright turquoise in colour, "what can I get for you to drink?"

I smiled up at her, "just water for me, thank you."

Tommy shook his head, "tsk tsk, live a little will you?" He turned to the waitress, flashing her a charming smile, "champagne for the both of us darling."

The mask didn't hide her blush and I had to roll my eyes again as she turned away, "you'll give the poor girl a coronary."

He laid his hand on his chest in mock offense, "are you insinuating that my devilishly good looks could in any way cause that woman harm?"

I scoffed, opening my menu. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the fox hostess leading a young man with a silver and blue wolf mask to a table near ours, and had to suppress a smile. I looked back up, "that's enough stalling. Fill me in."

He shook his head, "that's not how this works, you cough up something I want to know first."

I sighed, gesturing for him to continue, "get on with it."

"Is it true the Justice League interfered on Santa Prisca about a month ago?"

I stifled the urge to whip my head up in surprise, instead lazily flicking my eyes up from my menu, "classified."

"So they did."

"Look, all I can tell you is that there was a small coup d'état and people with Justice League affiliations may or may not have looked into it."

The bubbly songbird was back, notepad whipped out and eyes shining behind her mask, "you guys know what you'd like?"

I folded my menu as a second server set down two glasses for us, pouring a small amount of the champagne into them. We both drank, and nodded and she filled them the rest of the way up, leaving the bottle. I laid a gentle hand on her arm, "water as well for me, if you don't mind?"

She nodded, cheeks turning red as she darted away. The blonde waitress turned to me with a broad grin, "what will you be having?"

"A steak please, medium-rare."

Tommy handed her our menus, "and I'll get the fettucine alfredo."

She nodded, leaving as bouncily as she came. Her more demure counterpart quickly dropped off the water, head ducked to avoid eye contact. I made a small show of sliding my glass of champagne over to him, "trying to get me drunk Tommy?"

"Never! Simply trying to enjoy a lovely evening with an even lovelier girl. Plus you never know, maybe if I loosed your lips you'll finally admit how desperately in love with me you are."

I turned making eye contact with Dick two tables down. He offered a sympathetic grin, gesturing as if to say 'you wanted this'. I turned back to Tommy, exasperated, "believe it or not, every single girl you meet won't fall to your feet and sing your praises."

"Not all, but most."

"Alright Casanova, now fill me in. I need my monthly dose of crime world gossip."

"What would you do without me? Anyway, Vladimir Vasiliev's been testing out new drugs…"

I sighed as Tommy handed me my coat, the meal had gotten more serious after talking about Vasiliev, a notorious Russian mob boss, and a sworn enemy of the Bratva. I'd been notified of new business ventures, murders, and marriages. Everything you needed to know about the criminal underground. That was the reason for these monthly sitdowns, and they were the reason for my vast knowledge of the people we fought against.

Tommy grinned at me, the dim lighting of the entryway glinting off his mask, "I don't suppose I can convince you to share a taxi?"

I snorted, "definitely not. Go home, Tommy."

He folded his coat over the crook of his elbow, "one of these days, I'll find out who you are. And then proceed to send you a million bouquets of flowers."

I shoved him gently towards the door, where I knew a car was waiting for him, "go."

He left then, taking with him the smell of cinnamon and some designer cologne. His scent was instantly replaced with that of sandalwood and cloves, and I turned with a weary smile already curving its way along my mouth.

Dick stood behind me, laughter dancing in his eyes, "if I knew this was just going to be two hours of you shooting him down over expensive food, I wouldn't have come."

I sighed, "welcome to my life. The word professionalism isn't a part of Tommy Rospera's vocabulary."

We stepped out of the restaurant, flagging down a cab. Dick placed a hand on the small of my back as we entered a piece of the sidewalk not lit, careful to walk streetside. Sometimes I wondered if he did that kind of thing on purpose, or if it was second-nature. He took off his mask, "I was surprised when he mentioned running his dad's criminal empire or whatever, he can't be much older than us."

I nodded, removing my mask as well and sighing as the cool air hit my face, "yeah. He's fifteen turning sixteen sometime in spring."

"He told you his birthday?"

"No, just that he's a Taurus which supposedly makes us very compatible."

He laughed, "he's ridiculous."

I nodded vehemently, "in absolutely all ways."

He opened the door as a cab pulled up to the curb, helping me in, "shitty romance movies and popcorn?"

"Sounds great. Pretty Woman first?"

He piled in next to me, and I relaxed into the comfortable feeling. Today had been a long day.


	8. Downtime

**So uhh, that upload schedule I talked about... clearly didn't go according to plan. Here's the laydown, my computer broke and I had to wait two weeks to get it fixed, and then I had a huge series of tests and projects and ughhh, and then, as it is so apt to do, my personal life kind of did a one-eighty. The icing on the cake, these two chapters gave me the most hell trying to write, particularly this one my god. Anywho, more on the chapter itself at the bottom!**

* * *

 **MOUNT JUSTICE**

 _ **August 26, 12:08**_

* * *

I hesitantly paused in front of Artemis' door. She was cooped up in her room at the Cave, probably reading or doing whatever it was she did when she spent hours alone. M'gann was practically vibrating at my side, biting her lip so hard I was worried she might chew through it. I swallowed and knocked, light and gentle.

"Yes?" Artemis called out from inside, her voice seemingly a little gravelly from disuse.

"M'gann's dragging me out into the world for a girl's day out, and we were wondering if you'd like to come?"

There was a pause, and the silence hung heavy in the air. And then there was shuffling from the other side of the door, which then swung open to reveal the girl in question. She wasn't wearing her mask, the first time I had seen her actual face, and I was taken aback by just how beautiful she was. The features I had seen in bits and pieces drew together, the high cheekbones, dark eyes, straight nose and full mouth making up a girl who looked like a model.

M'gann jumped back a little and I had to blink, she puffed a loose piece of hair out of her eyes, "depends. Where to?"

I cleared my throat, "just to Gotham. M'gann's never seen a big city, and I refuse to let her solely shop in Happy Harbour Mall, it's against my upbringing."

She seemed to roll the idea around in her head and eventually sighed, "yeah sure. Let me grab my bag?"

I nodded, "we've got to collect our shit too, meet by the Tubes in five?"

She murmured her assent, closing the door as she turned around. M'gann thumped me wildly on the shoulder, "oh my god! She's gorgeous! And coming with us! That means she likes us!"

I laughed under my breath, "go get your stuff."

Turning left towards my own room here, I swung open the door to find it almost exactly as I had left it. My copy of the Iliad was on my desk, with a sticky note from Kaldur thanking me for letting him borrow it. It was one of the few books missing from the Cave's extensive library, and apparently he was also a classics nerd. Kaldur devoured books like Wally devoured food, on a constant search for knowledge. He claimed it staved off the boredom of having practically nothing to do all day, so who was I to begrudge him some Homer?

There was, however, an additional sticky note on the back of my door written in Dick's bold font. ' _Check under your pillow_ '.

I did as instructed and found a Kit-Kat. I snorted, throwing it in my bag to eat while walking. After he had discovered my chocolate addiction at the age of ten, Dick started leaving me Kit-Kats in unlikely places, saying the pun was too great to ignore. In return, I left him terrible jokes. Double-checking my wallet was in my bag, I grabbed a sticky note and pen, crossing the hall to Dick's room here. It was dark, and smelled too much like dust and too little of him to really be _his_ room, but it held a faint trace of his scent. I scribbled out a quick pun worthy of a popsicle stick, ' _how does a train eat? It goes chew, chew_ '.

Leaving his room behind me, I made for the Zeta Tubes. M'gann was already there, bouncing excitedly as she held her purse in both hands. Artemis came into the room a few seconds later, face somewhat apprehensive. I flashed her a bright grin, typing in the code for Gotham. I turned to the two of them, "ready to experience the cesspool that is my city?"

Artemis snorted and M'gann grinned, "I can't wait!"

When we emerged from the alley containing the Zeta Port, I stopped to let them take in one of the busiest parts of Gotham. M'gann's jaw dropped, and Artemis looked fairly unfazed. Figures, Star City was just as busy, if a little less dirty.

I performed a whole grand tour, Chinatown, Greektown, just about every little sector imaginable. By the time it was nearing four o'clock, M'gann and Artemis each had at least five bags filled to the brim with stuff I insisted on paying for. Artemis had refused profusely, and I had feigned hurt and said it was only polite she accept any gift I might offer her. Her favourite seemed to be an independent bookstore that sold a rainbow of novels. I filed it away in my head that she was a book lover, and resolved to buy her them whenever possible.

We decided to end the day at Rosie's, the diner Dick and I frequented. It was family-run, and it made the best burgers in Gotham. The waitress left us our food and I was picking at my fries when M'gann turned to me with a beaming smile, "thank you so much Ara, this was so fun!"

I smiled back at her, "hey no problem. I don't have a lot of friends who are girls so this was actually a really nice change of pace."

Artemis put down her coke, "yeah, you and Boy Wonder are practically attached at the hip."

I swirled my straw in my Shirley Temple, "we actually have a friend named Barbara, but she's doing a summer internship at her dad's work so we haven't gotten to see her a lot lately what with the constant missions and all."

"What does her dad do?" She asked, eyebrows furrowed.

I winced, "sorry, SID compromising."

She waved her hand, "don't worry I get it. I don't exactly share a lot of details about my life."

I pointed at her with a fry, "and that's totally fine."

M'gann looked up at the clock and then turned back to us with a worried look on her face, "we have to be in the Mission Room for briefing in ten minutes."

We paled, hurriedly called over the waitress, paid in excess and then booted it back to the nearest Zeta Port with our bags. I practically broke the keypad inside the phone booth punching in the code for the Cave, and we hit the floor at a run. Tearing through the room, we whipped past the boys and made for our rooms. I slammed into my door, throwing it open and tossing my bags to the floor, nearly forgetting to shut the door in my rush.

I stripped faster than I had ever in my life, throwing on my uniform as quickly as one can put on a near skin tight jumpsuit, hurriedly shoving in my ear pieces and putting my mask into place. I nearly tripped on the Kit-Kat from earlier, which had slid from my bag when I had thrown it to the ground. On a whim, I took it with me as I zoomed out of my room.

I met with Artemis in the hallway, M'gann way ahead of us thanks to her ability to just shift into her suit. We tore into the Mission Room with two minutes to spare, leaning on each other to catch our breath.

I opened the Kit-Kat and broke her off a piece, which she accepted with guarded enthusiasm. Rob raised an eyebrow, partly at our rush and probably partly because of the action. He walked over, leaning his elbow on my shoulder nonchalantly. I rolled my eyes, shoving him off me. He had been rubbing the three inches he had gained on me in my face for a week.

He smiled up at Artemis, "feel special, Belle sharing chocolate is a rare sight."

Wally ran up to us, the gust of wind accompanying him kind of nice in my disheveled state. He was grinning, "hold on, Cat shared _chocolate_?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, "I like her better than you, deal with it."

Artemis snorted as Batman swept into the room, face all austerity. We immediately fell into line, waiting for him to address us. He surveyed us, gaze lingering on me, Artemis and M'gann. He stopped in front of the Holo-screen that was appearing behind him, eyes narrowed. He turned back to the screen, "nice to see all of you here on time."

I smiled cheekily, "hey, who would I be without a daily close call?"

He sighed in a long-suffering manner, statistics, coordinates and a picture of Gotham's warehouse district appeared on the screen. I was practically bouncing, "are we going into Gotham?"

Bruce's eyes were weary behind the cowl, "yes Catgirl."

I bumped fists with Rob, "homecourt, let's go."

Bats sighed, "we've gotten intel about a possible deal related to the Cadmus project…"

* * *

 **GOTHAM**

 _ **August 27, 06:12 EDT**_

* * *

I shoved Artemis out of the way as Clayface swung an anvil-like arm at her, she went flying ahead of me, and I sailed into the metal doors of the warehouse. There was no telltale crack or pop, meaning I probably hadn't broken anything, thank god.

M'gann screeched my name, dropping her camouflage. Clayface immediately slammed her out of the sky, prompting Superboy to fling himself at the guy in a fit of rage. I held my head, trying to blink away the black at the edges of my vision. A steadying hand placed itself at the small of my back, Rob. His concerned face swam into my eyesight, "you okay?"

I nodded, dropping my hand, "yeah. Just hoping I don't get another damn concussion."

He laughed a little, darting away to go throw explosives at Clayface. I stepped forward to address the shapeshifter, "hey! As much as I appreciate your concern for my skin, I'm exactly in need of a clay mask right now!"

He growled, stomping forwards to most likely beat the shit of me. The birdarangs Robin had lined his back with exploded in quick succession, prompting him to double over. I turned to Kaldur who had his water swords drawn and was looking around almost frantically. I called out to him, "Aqualad, we need a plan!"

"I am trying, Catgirl, but you talking is hardly helping my thought process!" He snarked, dodging a swing of Clayface's pike.

I whistled lowly, " _okay_ Mister Grump, hurry the hell up!"

Artemis called out from behind me, "Cat! Watch out!"

I looked at her to see a large shadow looming over me and getting larger. And then all I saw was a blur of colours as I flew through the air, slamming hard into the concrete wall. I heard Artemis scream, Wally shout something vaguely threatening, and then two more large thuds. My vision was hazy, and I felt myself dancing on the line between wakefulness and unconsciousness. I fought it, my head lolling to the side to try to watch what was happening.

The blurry figures of my teammates lay on the ground, and it looked like Kaldur was the last man standing. My fingers twitched, and I was trying to shake myself from my stupor. Kaldur was knocked down, and the last thing I saw was the glass of the skylight falling like crystalline rain as a large shadow fell with it.

* * *

I woke up to the sensation of delicate fingers carding through my hair. Fluttering my eyes open, I found myself laid across the laps of Artemis, M'gann and Rob, the Martian absentmindedly playing with my hair. The first thing I saw was Dick's face, drawn tight with worry behind his mask. M'gann peered down at me when I stirred, face breaking out into a wide smile, "she's awake!"

I realized I was in the very back of the Batmobile, the Gotham streets whipping past us. I caught Bruce's eyes in the rearview, him throwing a worried look my way. My attention was drawn away when M'gann tried to prop me up. I winced, my ribs sore and clutched the side of my head. The vertigo subsided and I attempted to get off M'gann, who was looking uncomfortable now that she had to bear my full weight.

I slipped off her, squeezing in between Artemis and Rob. Mis turned as far as she could to face me, "I'm so sorry, I should have warned you earlier or something."

I shook my head, "it's fine, I should have been quicker, that's all. How long was I out for?"

Kaldur spoke instead, "we all woke a few minutes after Batman intervened, you've been unconscious for about an hour and a half longer I suspect."

"It's probably because you're still fresh off a concussion, that's all," Wally said reassuringly.

I curled into Artemis' side, resting my head on her shoulder. She smelled like green apple and jasmine, it was strangely comforting. I felt like a little kid who had been thoroughly scolded, and Bruce hadn't even said anything yet.

The car pulled to a stop, and we piled out with a distinct sense of shame. There was nothing but silence as the light of the Zeta Port enveloped us, the uncomfortable feeling of being broken down and made back up again coursing through me.

Bats paused in front of us, "I need to talk to Aqualad. The rest of you, hit the showers and head home."

"Head home?" Superboy asked, " I am home."

I sighed. I was covered in clay and dirt, and probably blood somewhere and all I wanted was a shower and my bed. I was surprised when I heard Bruce dismiss Rob behind me, " _just_ Aqualad."

Dick usually got to sit in on after-mission talks with Bats and Kaldur, as part of his grooming to run the team eventually I guess. He trudged up behind me, and I searched his face for emotion. Laying a hand on his shoulder, I offered him what I hoped was a reassuring smile, "don't worry about it, it's probably about why Kaldur was so weird today."

He averted his gaze, "I guess."

I let him walk on ahead of me, hiding behind a wall in range for my earpieces to pick up on Bruce and Kaldur's conversation.

"I am sorry you had to intervene," Kaldur said earnestly. "I know the Team performed poorly-"

Batman cut him off, "the _Team_ performed adequately. The problem was _you_. You're their leader, and your head wasn't in the game." I could see why Bruce sent Dick ahead, for all his harshness, he wasn't big on public humiliation.

"No! You are-" Kaldur stopped himself with a sigh, weariness and guilt coating his voice, "correct. Of late I am not even convinced I belong on the surface world. For so many years it filled my every thought. But now that I am here, my dreams are all Atlantis."

"Atlantis," Bruce questioned, "or someone you left behind? You can split your time, between the surface and the sea, but not your mind. Either you're here one-hundred percent or you need to walk away. Make a decision Kaldur, and make it soon."

Bats walked off, and I waited thirty seconds before peeling myself off my wall and approaching Kaldur. I whistled lowly, "you got _chewed out_."

He looked at me with stricken eyes, "you heard all that?"

I smiled, tapping my ear, "I'm sure Supey did too, he just wouldn't say anything." He sighed and looked so tired I grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the back door.

"Where are we going?" He asked, and I shushed him, letting the doors slide open and reveal my favourite place in the Cave. The little ledge opened to the sea on one side and the forest on the other, and the sun was just peeping over the horizon staining the whole sky shades of pink, purple and orange.

I sat at the edge, dangling my feet over the side and patted the ground next to me, "come tell Auntie Arabella all about it."

He sat, sighing heavily, "I don't know, perhaps I am homesick."

I cast him my best 'what kind of idiot do you take me for' look, "I don't think so. I agree with Bats, I think you're missing _someone_. So, out with it, what's her name?"

"Excuse me?"

"Or his name, if you swing that way. I don't discriminate."

He looked out at the ocean longingly, "no, it's a she. _Tula_."

He said her name like a prayer, and I had to fight a grin that tugged at the corner of my mouth. I laid back, face up to the sky, "tell me about her."

"She's extremely beautiful, and kind, and intelligent and gentle. She's just… good. There's so much goodness in her and that makes her so special. Any man would be lucky to have her." He kept going, telling me stories of the two of them growing up, learning at the Conservatory, how he had kissed her on a dare at the age of ten. Eventually, he paused, staring dreamily into space, "she's perfect."

I smirked, "sounds like you're in love with her."

He grew a little more serious, "I am."

I sat back up, "listen, you want my advice? Take a few days off. Go see her, tell her what you just told me."

He paled, "a few days off? But the Team needs me."

I turned so he was forced to make eye contact with me, "Kaldur. You aren't Atlas, you don't have the whole world on your shoulders. You can take a weekend without the universe imploding. I'm sure Rob can take a little responsibility, and even if the Team has to take a break, the world was doing fine before us. You're only sixteen, lighten up."

He turned away, "and what if Tula rejects my advances?"

I laid my hand on his shoulder, "then you take it like a man and don't blame her. But for what it's worth, I think she'd be crazy to turn you down. You're a great guy Kaldur."

He looked back at me, "you think so?"

I grinned, "sure. I mean no offense, you're more of a big brother to me than anything else, but you'd be a catch for any girl. You're objectively attractive, you're intelligent, kind, funny, there's no way Tula isn't just a ridiculously in love with you as you are her."

A smile broke out across his face, "you're right, I'll arrange with Batman for a small vacation home. And then I'll tell her. Thank you, Arabella."

I got up, dusting my legs off. The sun had fully risen, making the waves sparkle, "no problem. Always up for free therapy, just let me know."

He didn't get up, and something told me he was going to sit and think for a little longer. I made for the door but his voice stopped me, "for what it's worth Ara, I think you're very wise for your age."

I flashed him a grin and left, making a beeline for the showers. Hopefully everything would turn out alright.

* * *

 **GOTHAM**

 _ **August 27, 19:34**_

* * *

I blinked awake as a loud buzzing noise made itself known in my left ear. My room was dark, the curtains pulled back to reveal the nighttime skyline of Gotham. I yawned, looking down at my phone to see I had six missed calls in a row from Wally, and his name was flashing across the screen still.

I picked up the phone, holding it to my face and curling back into my pillow, "yes?"

Wally sounded a little frantic on the other end, "have you talked to Dick at all?"

I blinked, instantly awake. I rubbed at my face with the heel of my hand, "not since the mission. I was talking to Kaldur, and then I showered, got debriefed, went home and I've been hibernating since. Why, is everything okay?"

He sighed, "yeah, he just seemed kind of upset earlier, and he isn't answering my texts."

Yawning, I threw off the covers, "I'll go over and check on him. Knowing him he's just upset over Bruce not wanting him to sit in today."

"Alright, thanks Ara."

I balanced my phone between my ear and shoulder and I got up, "hey it's your grandpa's birthday today right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"No reason, tell him I said happy birthday."

"Alright, stay safe."

"Yeah, yeah, see you later."

I hung up and ventured into my closet for actual clothing to wear. Grabbing an oversized knit sweater, boyfriend jeans and keds, I changed quickly and grabbed my keys, locking the door on my way out.

A twenty-minute cab ride later, I was standing at the gates of Wayne Manor. Sliding my keycard and walking up to the door, I opened it with little hesitation, ditching my shoes at the door lest Alfred murder me for ruining his perfect floors.

I padded barefoot through the manor, quietly looking for either Dick, Bruce or the aforementioned butler. I decided to try the training room, and found it empty. There was an abandoned towel and half-drank water bottle, and a large hole in the wall that looked like it had come from a fist.

I traced it gently, the center of it was too small to belong to Bruce, and he wasn't one for punching walls.

I returned to the hall, doubling my efforts to find Dick. I decided to try his bedroom when I heard a whoop of laughter and the sound of someone dribbling a basketball. A small smile tugged at the corner of my mouth and I went out towards the basketball court.

Alfred stood in the doorway, a smile on his face, and beyond him Dick and Bruce were playing and carrying on. I fell into place beside Alfred, leaning against the doorframe. I spoke quietly, "he's good?"

Alfred jumped a little, but talked in the same low tone, "it would appear so. I believe Mr. Grayson simply felt he was lacking Master Wayne's approval."

I snorted a little at his formality, "I concur."

"Belle?" Dick called out from across the court.

They ceased their game and Bruce eyed me with mild curiosity and surprise. He braced a hand on his hip, "Arabella, does your mother know you're here?"

I rolled my eyes, "no she's out, but I practically live here anyway so."

Dick raised an eyebrow, "why are you here?"

"Because someone," I said holding up my phone to show him my call log, and numerous calls from Wally, "decided to ignore Wally after taking a page out of Superboy's handbook and being a little angst machine and he got worried. So naturally he wakes me up and asks me to go check on you."

I could see Bruce holding back a snort and had to grin. Dick looked a little sheepish, "sorry, I was training earlier, I didn't check my phone."

I shrugged, "I was going to come check on you anyway, and fill you in on the drama with Kaldur and his lady love."

"Lady love?"

I leant back against the doorframe again, "oh yeah. This girl, Tula, they've been best friends since the cradle along with this other guy named Garth. He's head-over-heels in love with her, you should've heard him talk about her. Anyway," I turned to Bruce, "he said he was going to contact you about taking a day or two off, so he can go home and see her, profess his love and all that jazz."

Bruce nodded, "he already did. He left earlier today."

Alfred shook his head, "teenagers."

I turned to him, "oh shush. He's being open and honest with his feelings, that takes courage."

His lip twitched, "I suppose. Tell me Miss Williams, are you staying with us tonight?"

I yawned, "maybe. At this point I should just start paying you rent, Bruce."

"Eight-hundred a month utilities included," he joked back, and I smiled. It was nice to see the Dark Knight being playful.

There was a loud ding, and Alfred gazed down at his phone. He looked back up at Bruce, "it would appear there's a League emergency at Tokyo Bay sir."

Bruce frowned, turning to Dick, "hate to cut the game short but duty calls, you two good on your own?"

I slung my arm around Dick's shoulders, "don't worry I'll keep this one in line."

Alfred huffed gently, "if anyone needs to be kept in line, I believe it's you Miss Williams."

"Arabella, Alfred, and fair. What can I say, I'm a rebel at heart."

"A rebel without a cause, maybe," Bruce cut in. I shot him a glare and the two of them swept back into the house towards the Batcave. I yawned, letting go of Dick.

He shrugged turning to me, "Disney marathon?"

"Only if we start with The Aristocats."

* * *

I woke up to my phone buzzing yet again, this time on the couch in the living room Dick and I had set up in and with a crick in my neck. It was M'gann calling instead of Wally.

I picked up, "hello?"

" _OhmygodArayouwon'tbelievewhatjusthappenedohmygodohmygodohmygod_."

I sighed, sitting up from my previously curled up position, "M'gann. Slower."

Dick leant over to look at me, "is that M'gann?"

I rolled my eyes, mouthing ' _no shit_ ' and put her on speaker phone so he could hear and save me the trouble of just relaying the story in five minutes.

The gulls in the background told me she was on the beach, probably to get out of Superboy's earshot. She took a deep breath and let it out, "so. I was going to make dinner and I asked Superboy if he wanted to help, and he said no but he got up anyway. So I was pulling out ingredients telekinetically and I kind of accidentally went too fast and got it all over him? And then I freaked out because he was covered in egg and milk and brown sugar and started drying him off and I was babbling and making a fool of myself and then I just kind of trailed off and we had this fifteen-second moment of really intense eye contact and then he just sat back down still covered. And I cooked and we ate and now I'm calling you?"

I blew a piece of hair out of my eyes, "M'gann. How many times do I have to tell you that he's probably just as into you as you are him?"

"You say that but he's nothing like Wally is, aren't boys forward with this kind of thing?"

"A, Wally isn't into you, Wally thinks you're attractive and is mildly infatuated with you. B, some guys are, some guys aren't. I don't think Superboy exactly tops the list of guys who are open about their feelings."

"You have a point…"

I rubbed my eyes, "either kick around until he makes the first move or be a woman about it and ask him on date or something."

"Or something," she said flatly.

"Just walk up to him and kiss him, I don't know. Do I look well-versed in telling guys I'm madly in love with them?"

Dick snickered, and M'gann yelped, "I am _not_ madly in love with Superboy!"

" _Right_ , and the general staring, moony-eyed-ness and awkward compliments are just you expressing platonic admiration. Woman up and go ask him for coffee, or ice cream, or whatever it is people do for fun in Happy Harbor."

"But… what if he says no?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose, "M'gann, my little ball of sunshine, you're gorgeous, you're smart, you're kind, you're pretty much the only one willing to put up with Superboy's shit. If he doesn't realize how perfect you are, that's on him, not you."

Her tone brightened immediately, "really?"

"Yes, really. Now go do something vaguely cute and giggle."

She laughed, "thanks Ara, I'll let you know how everything goes."

"Alright, be careful."

"See you tomorrow!"

She hung up and flicked my phone to the other end of the couch. I groaned, "first Kaldur now M'gann, when the hell did I become a dating coach?"

"You should charge by the hour."

I swatted his shoulder, "oh hush you. Pass a blanket, I'm freezing."

He handed over the soft, fuzzy one he knew I liked and I curled up in it, resting my head on his shoulder and humming along to Everybody Wants to Be a Cat. Dick snorted and flicked my nose. I turned my head into his shoulder, glaring up at him, "I hate you."

He fake-glared back, "I hate you more." We held eye contact for a few seconds and then burst into laughter with the sound of Thomas O'Malley's voice in the background.

* * *

The last straining notes of Jessi's song faded out, and I fell to the shiny, hardwood floor of her music room in a crumpled heap. She clapped from across the room and I stood, dusting off the legs of my sweatpants, "so the lights would fade to a complete blackout there."

She shook her head, "it's absolutely perfect. I can't believe how quickly you've managed all this."

I tightened my ponytail with a grin, "it's been my pleasure, really. The music's beautiful, I can't believe you write stuff like this at our age."

"It's just because I've been playing piano since my fingers could stretch across a chord, my brother's the same."

I blinked, "brother?"

Realization seemed to dawn across her face, "I didn't tell you about him did I? I have an older half-brother, Will. He's insufferable, cocky, and a total womanizer."

I wrinkled my nose, "he sounds fun."

She pinched the bridge of her nose, "don't even get me started."

The sound of her music room door being swung open interrupted our conversation and a tall-ish guy I'd ballpark around fifteen walked in. He was gorgeous, tanned skin, straight nose and strong jaw, the same cinnamon hair as Jessi and a set of deep green eyes. He strode forward like he owned the place, gaze on his phone, "hey Jess, do you know if dad-" he looked up from his screen, eyes landing on me and cut himself off, "who's this?"

I noted his British accent as Jessi groaned, "speak of the goddamn devil."

I raised an eyebrow, connecting the dots in my head and walking towards him with a hand stuck out, "Arabella Williams. I'm choreographing and dancing for your sister in her upcoming performance?"

He shook my outstretched hand, sliding his phone into his back pocket, "Will Sutton, Jessi's half-brother."

He had calluses on his fingertips, and I regarded him coolly, "so I've been told. Different last names as well."

He grinned widely, "I took our father's, Jessi took her mother's. She says he's too big of a prick for her to want to be associated with him and I'm inclined to agree but it's always fun to throw around that I'm James Sutton's son." He retracted his hand, "that's our father, he's-"

"A business owner with major holdings in the US and UK, I'm well aware. Is it true he's extending into Australia these days?"

He blinked, apparently unused to being cut-off, "I'm sorry, I wasn't aware you were business-savvy."

I crossed my arms, "comes with being a good family friend of the Waynes. God knows how many galas I've been to. I could give you a twenty-year background on any prominent businessperson."

He laughed, sticking his thumbs in his belt loops, "I like a girl who knows her stuff, do you attend Gotham Academy?"

"I'm starting there in the fall, yes."

He raised an eyebrow, "starting? You're Jessi's age then? You seem…" he gave me a once-over, "older."

"Will!" Jessi hissed from the piano, outrage plain on her face.

"What?" He said good-naturedly, "I didn't mean anything by it, she just seems rather mature." He turned back to me, "I'm starting my second year there in the fall. I've been in boarding-school exile for the past few years, but I got to spend the summer with my mum in London."

I narrowed my eyes, "yes, well I'm more of a French girl myself."

He gave me some sort of mix of a smirk and a smile, like he was genuinely amused but trying to coat it in a layer of asshole, "I'm sure Jessi's already told you but I'm actually in a band, you should come see us play sometime."

I waved my hand dismissively, "sure, whenever I want to bleed from my ears I'll come see you. Now, if you don't mind, we have choreography to go over."

A spark of curiosity flared to life in his eyes and he turned to leave, "I think you'd be surprised." He turned to go, but stopped and looked over his shoulder with a wink, "oh and French girls are hot as hell."

I cocked a hip, staring him down, "they sure are."

He grinned, "I'll see you around."

"Can't wait!" I called from behind gritted teeth.

He left, taking the smell of designer cologne and worn leather with him and I turned to Jessi, "oh he really is terrible."

She threw her hands in the air, "what did I tell you? Nice job handling his fuckboy ass though."

I gave a mock bow and she laughed, starting up the music again.

* * *

 **MOUNT JUSTICE**

 _ **August 28, 12:14**_

* * *

I heard Glados' voice ring out in the Mission Room as we walked towards it in uniform, " _recognized, Aqualad, B-03_."

My mouth curved up into a smile, and I heard Bruce's voice, low and steady, "made your decision?"

"The decision is made," Kaldur said, more assuredly and calm than I had heard him for a while, "I am here. One-hundred percent."

"Just in time for your next mission," Bruce said as we entered from the hall. He turned to us, statistics and images flashing up on screen. "The Watchtower detected an immense power surge in the Bialyan desert. You're being sent in _covertly_ on a recon-only mission."

"And when will this be?" Aqualad asked.

Bats turned to him, "in a few days, we have a few details to iron out. Until then, rest up. Wait here for Black Canary, you have a training session soon."

We nodded and he strode out from the room, and I groaned, "Bialya? God why."

"Is it that bad?" Kaldur asked, eyes curious.

I snorted, "oh you're going to hate it there, nothing but sand for miles on miles, not a drop of moisture and oppressive heat slamming down on you."

"I agree that sounds rather unpleasant."

I perked up suddenly, "so how did it go with Tula? You guys sort it out?"

His face grew serious, "it would appear that while I was gone she and Garth began a romantic relationship, and thus she rejected my advances."

I cringed, "oh Kaldur, I'm so sorry."

"Do not be," he said, resting a hand on my shoulder, "it had to be done. My emotions were clouding my mind, making my leadership suffer." He turned to the whole of the Team, "I apologize for our last mission, I was off my game, and we failed as a result."

"Dude, you have worse stuff to be upset over," Wally said.

"This Garth guy seems like a shitty best friend to me, going after the girl you like," Rob chimed in.

"He was unaware of my affection for Tula, as was she," Kaldur said.

I patted him on the back consolingly, "so it's not like he meant to go all Mr. Steal-Yo-Girl on you, it's just terrible timing."

"Mr. Steal-Yo-Girl?" Artemis asked with a snort.

"Hush you," I said, waving her away, "Tula's an idiot for not pining as helplessly after you as you have her. So you know what? Forget her. Go find a hot girl somewhere and have some old-fashioned teenage fun."

He wrinkled his nose, "is that a euphemism?"

I shrugged, "possibly."

He laughed, warm and full, "enough of that. How is your… you called it choreography? How's that going?"

I dragged my hands down my face, "the dance? Wonderful. I was however introduced to Jessi's less than wonderful half-brother yesterday."

"Half-brother?" M'gann asked with a renewed interest.

I rolled my eyes, "oh yes. He's British, in some kind of boy band, thinks he's god's freaking gift to women, and he's going to go to our school," I said, gesturing between Dick and I.

Artemis raised her eyebrows, "and _is_ he attractive?"

I groaned, "unfairly so. Which just makes the fact that he's an arrogant bastard so much worse. He insulted my intelligence, flaunted his wealth and then he hit on me and left. I detest him."

M'gann was practically bouncing, "a hot, rich British musician hit on you and you see this as a problem?"

I flung my hands in the air, "did you miss the part where I mentioned his general insufferable-ness? I don't know what kind of standards you have but I assure you mine are a hell of a lot higher."

Artemis cocked a hip, "well if you don't want him feel free to give me his number."

I huffed, "oh absolutely, no problem."

"Sounds like an asshole to me," Wally said annoyedly.

I pointed to him, "thank you!"

The sound of boots hitting the floor alerted me to Dinah's entrance. She strolled into the room, "let's go kids."

I sighed, "oh goody."

She pointed at me, "you seem enthusiastic today Catgirl, come up." I cursed the universe in my head and stepped into the ring, taking a fighting stance. She grinned, "very good. Hands a little higher though…"

* * *

 **Okay, words cannot describe the ways in which this chapter kicked my ass. It was so difficult to write, and every time I put something down I hated it. Hopefully, it doesn't totally suck. We met Will though! I had such a fun time designing his character when I first thought him up, and we'll be seeing a lot more of him and his sister later in the story. As always, see you next time! (More like in two seconds hopefully given that this is a double upload.)**


	9. Bereft

**BIALYA**

 _ **September 4, 18:39 EEST**_

* * *

All around me there was nothing but heat. Heat and dry air and something against my cheek that felt vaguely like sand. I cracked my eyes open, the light searing my retinas. I was lying on my side, and all I could see for miles was a reddish sky and endless sand dunes. _What the actual fuck_.

I blinked, rolling over with a groan. It felt like I had been run over by a transport truck. Sitting up, my mouth parted in pain as my sore muscles burned. The skin of my lips stuck together, telling me it had been a while since I had drank anything. Coupled with the pounding in my head, I was probably nearing water deprivation.

There was nothing around me, and I was in costume. I popped a pill quickly, sighing as my senses expanded. The world became crisper, edges sharpening, and the distinct smell of night approaching travelling over on the breeze. Shaking the sand from my ponytail, I reached for my comm only to remember Bruce's masked face, stark and full of authority, " _maintain radio silence_."

I dropped my hand and looked around. If I was being briefed like that, Dick was probably here with me, making finding him my number one priority followed closely by my continued survival. Squinting around to look for the sun, I decided it was probably evening based on its position. I promptly started walking towards it, the general protocol for being lost with no idea where to go being head west. If Rob was here, he'd be travelling in the same direction and hopefully we'd stumble on each other assuming we were anywhere near the other.

But that begged two questions, why the hell was I here, and why the hell had we been separated?

I trudged along, trying to wrap my head around the situation. I was trapped in an unnamed desert, with no particular way out. Robin was nowhere to be found, maybe hurt or even dead and I had no way of finding him. I felt the tip of my nose burn, and I drove the heels of my palms into my eyes to fight back the frustrated tears starting to well up.

I opened my eyes when I walked straight into a rock outcropping, bumping my forehead against the stone. It was about thirty feet high, and I eyed the wall of it, sinking my claws into the rock. I started to climb, a delightfully cool breeze stirring my hair as I ascended. Coming to the crest of the rock, I sat and looked around for any sign of life.

There was nothing in all four directions, no people, no animals, no plants. It was a special kind of hellscape, and I flopped down on my back, staring up at the dimming sky as I tried to remember why in fuck's name I was here in the first place. All I could think of was the English assignment I had due on Monday, and Dick's face behind his mask, stern and careful. I sighed, sitting up in a meditative pose and trying to reach the icy place Bruce had always taught me to retreat to. _Remember_.

 _I was lying on the bed in Dick's room, the curtain on his window flapping a little in the wind. He was sitting at his desk, finishing an essay for History. I had a book on my lap, and I turned my attention back to it. Crinkling my nose as the protagonist thoroughly embarrassed herself, I flipped a page and sighed in displeasure._

" _Having fun?" I looked up from the page to find Dick staring down at me, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth._

 _I tossed the book to the other side of the bed, "this main character is ridiculous. It's like she has no control of her facial muscles."_

 _He laughed under his breath in the huffy way he did when I surprised him with humour, "excited for the big mission in Bialya?"_

" _Excited to go spend a day surrounded by nothing but sand and heat? No."_

" _It might be fun, who knows? Wally'll probably do something entertaining."_

My eyes snapped open, Wally was here? And here was Bialya? That would explain the utter lifelessness of the place, the Bialyan desert was second only to the Atacama for lack of precipitation.

The landscape was empty and growing darker, soon it would be night and the temperatures would start to drop below freezing if it was early spring. If I hadn't found Rob at that point, I was almost guaranteed to pass out from dehydration, and if I did that I was practically guaranteed to die.

I nearly fell off the rock in surprise when a black, red and green blur came to a stop below me. I peered down at it, only to find that said blur was Wally, with a seemingly gorgeous girl dressed all in dark green with GA's symbol emblazoned across her chest. I leaned over the rock, calling down to them, "Kid?"

Their heads snapped up and I watched Wally squint, "Catgirl?"

I could have cried in relief. Swinging my legs over the rock and jumping down, I hit the sand at a crouch to save myself nerve damage. Standing up, I grabbed his arm, "what the hell are we doing here? And who's she?"

"I don't know, and I don't know," he responded with an unnatural amount of enthusiasm for someone trapped in a desert.

"Artemis," the beautiful girl answered, "and I don't know either but it might be my dad's fault."

I blinked, "okay, I'm going to get back to you on that one." I turned to Wally, "have you seen Rob anywhere?"

He shook his head, "nope, why, is he with you?"

I frowned, "I assumed he was. I've been trying to find him. You, him and I were sent here, I have no clue why though." I was largely comforted by his presence. Despite Wally's shortcomings, he wasn't an idiot and he was someone I was used to and comfortable with. The girl seemed sharp too, with her calculating eyes and carefully arrayed expression.

Our conversation was cut short by a large projectile hitting the ground between the three of us. I jumped back, a yell tearing its way from my throat. The dust settled and the projectile revealed itself to be a shirtless, ripped teenage boy with a face like murder.

He dove after Wally, slamming him into the wall of rock behind us. I took a defensive stance, placing myself in front of Artemis. "You stay behind me, you're more effective there!"

She called her assent, drawing an arrow from her quiver and knocking it. It whistled past my ear and exploded against the boy's chest, which did absolutely nothing to stop him as he barrelled towards us. I ran forward, sticking my leg out as I slid past him on the sand, sending him face-first into the ground. He rose, seemingly even angrier and I moved so I was in front of Artemis again, "okay. Let's see, super strength, indestructibility and apparently the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Who the hell is this guy?"

"Maybe we can ponder over that when he's not trying to rip us to pieces!" Artemis called, sending another volley of explosive arrows his way.

He pushed through them and we flipped out of the way, the sound of a missile screaming through the air pushing in as it zoomed towards the guy. I winced, for whatever reason, I really didn't want to hurt this kid. It landed dead-center on his chest and the shockwaves sent me flying. I hit the ground with a groan, sand making its way into my mouth. I rolled over with a sense of deja vu and surveyed the damage.

Artemis was lying on the ground beside me, groggy from the blast, Wally was still slumped against the rocks and to add to the fun, tanks from the Bialyan army were rolling towards us.

The crazy boy charged the tanks, ripping the canon off of one of them and ripping the machine gun from the hand of one of the men operating it, flinging him from the cockpit. He then proceeded to rip the top half off the tank and throw it like a fucking frisbee, another missile blast sending him into a nearby dune.

"Whose side is he on?" Artemis hissed, coming to stand next to me.

"You wanna stick around and find out?" Wally asked, offering her his arm.

"I sure as hell don't," I said, climbing on his back as soon as he had scooped up Artemis. He took off, the unnatural sensation of running faster than the average sports car sending my stomach into a twist. I propped my head up on Wally's shoulder, "remember when The Flash made you carry me and Rob like this for training?"

"Yeah, it's just as unpleasant now," he snarked back, grip on Artemis tightening. We came to a jarring stop as Wally fell forwards, sending us all flying down a dune and into the sand below. Shadows swooped over us, and we jumped to our feet as fighter jets flew over our heads.

" _Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck_ ," I chanted under my breath, peering up at the sky. It was like the universe decided to make us into a living, breathing example of Murphy's law.

The jets launched a volley of bullets and Wally grabbed Artemis' wrist, "get down!" I followed suit, hitting the sand with a solid thump. The jets swooped down, a sea of bullet raining down on us and it hit me that it was very statistically likely that I was about to die.

Artemis knocked an arrow, and the sound of a teenage girl's voice rang through my skull, " _don't worry, I'm almost there_!"

Artemis's arrow wobbled and fell in the air as she turned to us, face all shock, "did you just hear a girl talking in your head?"

"Girls are always on my mind," Wally said facetiously, "but they're not usually talking."

"We can discuss your depravity later," I hissed, "right now, we're hearing shit whilst being shot at by goddamn Bialyan fighter jets and Rob's nowhere to be fucking found."

Our heads snapped back up to the sky as the jets slammed together and exploded midair, a pretty girl with green skin and a suit bearing Martian Manhunter's logo appearing from the smoke, flying to land in front of us.

"Well J'onn," Wally started, "the costume looks familiar, but I'm not sure the new bod screams Manhunter."

"You know my uncle J'onn?" The girl asked excitedly, eyes wide and face happy despite the current situation. "Hello Megan! Of course you do, you're Kid Flash! Wally! And you're Artemis, and you're Catgirl!" She said, pointing to each of us in turn.

"Wait, wait, wait, Martian Manhunter's your _uncle_?" Wally asked, face all disbelief, "is that how you know my name?"

"Your name's really Wally?" Artemis asked, partly snarky, partly incredulous.

A grin tugged at my mouth, "if you want to get technical it's Wallace."

Artemis snorted into her hand and Wally groaned. Megan, or whoever the hell the girl was looked between us all concernedly, "it's okay! We're teammates, friends! I made you cookies!" I blinked, I hadn't met this girl before in my life, and I sure as hell wasn't on some kind of a team.

"You know her?" Artemis asked, cocking a hip towards Wally.

"N-n-no I swear beautiful! Never seen her before in my life! At least not that I remember…" He said in a placating manner.

I raised an eyebrow, wondering what happened in the interim before I bumped into them for Artemis to act like a jealous girlfriend. Megan cut KF off, looking rather put out, "you all lost your memories too." She looked back towards the tanks, "come on, I'll fill you in as we go. Robin and Superboy need our help."

"Of course," Wally drawled, "Robin and Super-what now?"

I grabbed Megan's shoulder tightly, "they need our help? Is Robin okay? Where is he? What do you know?"

She blinked a little, taken aback. I made a mental note to tone it the fuck down. "I don't really know, I haven't seen him, but Superboy really needs us."

"Then let's find him," I said as reassuringly as possible, the girl clearly upset over the loss of this kid. She nodded, "so here's what I can remember…"

* * *

The moon was well into the sky before we came across anything. The sound of gunfire and shouting in Bialyan indicated that a fight was going on, and Wally raced ahead of us. I heard the faint sound of Rob's laugh on the wind and everything in me stopped dead for a heartbeat.

I chased after Wally, tearing across the sand, "Kid you son of a bitch!" M'gann flew ahead as well, leaving me and Artemis to run after them. As we approached, she knocked an arrow and let it fly, wrapping up the legs of a running soldier she must have caught on the border of her vision. Wally stood, having sent two Bialyans flying and M'gann was hovering above Robin, fading out of camouflage mode. Robin, who was standing there seemingly unharmed. Robin.

I paused, panting heavily and leaning on Artemis as the three of them turned to face us. The wind blew baby hairs into my eyes and I swiped at them, trying to remember how to breathe.

There was Rob staring up at me with the same troublemaker, ' _whoops_ ' smile that had grown to become ridiculously endearing over the years. I sighed, all the tension and worry and the sickening, sinking feeling I had been harbouring in my gut flying away as I noted his presence.

We all stopped for a moment, the silence heavy as I realized I was being stared at. A distinct sense of rightness unfurled in my chest as the corner of Dick's mouth quirked up. I broke into a dead sprint, flying down the sand dune towards him. His arms were already outstretched and I braced my forearms against his shoulders as I slammed into him, wondering when in our memory gap he had gained three inches on me. I stopped for a second to catch my breath, hand splayed across his chest to feel for a heartbeat, and when I found it beneath my fingers I pulled back to inspect him for damage, eyes roving his face and anywhere they would have aimed bullets. No cuts or bruises or blood, just dirt and sweat.

I let him do the same, eyes flicking across my face to inspect for scratches and then pulling back to do a full-body scan for injury before his face broke out into a smile, "God it's good to see you Cat."

I could've cried, and the burning in my nose indicated that I was dangerously close to it, "I was looking for you everywhere, never fucking do that again."

"How is any of this my fault?" He joked, pulling away to clasp hands with Wally, "KF! Man it's good to see familiar faces."

"Hey Rob," Wally said with a grin, "memory lost?"

"Six months!" He exclaimed, "let's hog-tie these creeps and compare notes."

We set to work tying up the Bialyan soldiers, and when we were done we gathered in a circle and let Megan, or M'gann as she properly introduced herself, completely fill us in on everything she could remember. We worked together on covert missions, recon for the Justice League, though the 'covert' aspect never went quite according to plan.

"So…" Rob said slowly, "we're a team?"

"The five of us and Superboy," M'gann assured.

"Then this must be his!" Rob said, holding up a black scrap of fabric with a red Superman symbol on it.

"Yes!" She cried out, grabbing it with careful fingers like the piece of cloth was a precious artifact, "did you see him?"

"I think we did," Artemis said, and I realized she was talking about the crazy, shirtless guy from earlier.

"Feral boy?" Wally asked, "some teammate, he attacked us."

"He didn't know who we are," Artemis defended, " _I_ don't know who we are!"

"I remember Batman ordering radio silence," Rob said, "our team must work for him!"

I snapped my fingers, "I remember that too! And us talking about it before we left, you mentioned Wally was going to be there, I thought it was a joint project between Bats and The Flash, but if we're a team it makes way more sense!"

"How do you know we don't work for my mentor?" Wally asked, poking his chest. His suit dramatically changed, fading back to the standard yellow from the emblem. "Woah," he breathed, repeatedly poking his chest, "this is so cool!"

We started prodding our own, looking for a change and Artemis sighed, placing her hands on her hips, "we look ridiculous!" She turned to Wally, who was utterly fascinated with this new concept, annoyed, "quit touching yourself!" I choked down a grin and slid my eyes over to Rob, who had the usual mischievous twinkle in his eyes. Artemis tossed her head in indignation, "we need our memories back!"

M'gann looked worried, and then her face split into one of determination, and I heard her voice in my head again, " _to help Superboy_."

Her eyes started to glow, and then I wasn't just in my body, I was in a crystal cavern with Dick, Artemis and Wally's minds with me. In the crystals were our faces, scenes I didn't remember playing out across their facets.

A tall, hooded figure comprised of white light appeared in front of us, speaking in M'gann's voice, "I've brought you into my mind to share what I've remembered so far. But I need your help," the white light drew in on itself, forming M'gann, "together our broken memories _can_ form a whole, if you open your minds to mine."

 _Oh hell the fuck no_. Artemis seemed to have much the same reaction, jerking away from M'gann, "you want to paw through our private thoughts?"

M'gann shook her head, holding her hands out in a placating gesture, "I have no wish to intrude, but-"

"You need to hack our minds to figure out what happened to us, got it, go!" Rob said, giving her finger guns.

"My brain's all yours," Wally said in the 'I'm trying really hard to be smooth' tone he adapted whenever he talked to cute girls, "try not to let it's brilliance overwhelm you."

"Or underwhelm you," Dick said with a roll of his eyes, and then suddenly his eyes lit up with a new thought, "hey, why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?"

Wally grabbed Artemis' hand, staring at her reassuringly. She sighed, "last six months _only_ and only what you need!"

"Speak for your own damn selves," I hissed, "I sure as hell don't want anyone traipsing through my head!"

Rob stuck out his own hand, understanding written across his face, "c'mon, I'll be right here."

They all stared me down and I huffed in annoyance, joining hands with Dick, "I am _so_ telling Selina you peer pressured me into having a Martian rifle through my brain." I harrumphed at the look of pure fear on his face, turning to M'gann, "same rules as Artemis."

She nodded and outstretched her arms, creepy blue hands made of energy coming forward to grasp our heads. And then I was taken on a crazy LSD trip of our conjoined memories. At first it was the joining of the team, Cadmus from Rob, Wally and I's perspective. Then every mission we'd ever been on, the addition of M'gann and then Artemis swooping in, all leading up to this mission in Bialya.

 _Bats stood in front of a holoscreen, a little clicker in his hand, the nerd. A map of Bialya with a blinking GPS marker came up, "The Watchtower detected an immense power surge in the Bialyan desert. Spectral analysis revealed elements non-terrestrial in origin. Find out what happened at that site, what landed there." This was clearly from Rob's point of view, the other five of us seemingly next to him as the view changed to him looking at us sidelong. It was strange to see myself from his perspective, eyes bright and hair tumbling down from it's ponytail, wild and curly._

 _Batman clicked again, and the picture of a beautiful, dark haired and tanned skin woman appeared. "Bialya is a rogue state, ruled by Queen Bee and not a member of the League's UN charter. All communications are subject to interception, maintain radio silence at all times."_

 _The view faded to one from a pair of binoculars and Bruce kept going like a voiceover, "you'll land in Qurac, on Bialya's border, two klicks from the Vatso."_

" _All clear!" Memory-Rob called and Superboy lugged a huge metal box down the ramp of the Bioship. Memories and points of view started to blur together, us staking out the Bialyan camp, Rob setting up some sort of strange system that unfolded from the box, Aqualad giving orders for M'gann to maintain telepathic contact as she investigated the tent. Aqualad, who we hadn't found, whose Atlantean biology made a desert the worst possible biome for him._

Oureyes snapped open and I felt myself return completely to my body, and we all looked at each other, stricken, "Aqualad!"

"Where is he?" Rob questioned M'gann, "what happened next?"

"I don't know!" M'gann said, utter distress painted across her face, "that's the last thing I- we remember!"

Artemis and Wally, seemingly recognizing the meaning of their interlocked hands detatched immediately and without subtlety. Wally scratched the back of his head, "we landed twenty-four hours ago. If Kaldur's been wandering the desert that long, well, that's not good for a guy with gills."

I felt my heart wrench, and Rob pulled up a map on his wrist, "now that I know to look for him…" his eyes scanned the hologram, "he's close! He's not moving."

"We need to go find him, now." I said, tightening my ponytail and dusting the sand off my legs.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Rob asked, taking off in whatever direction his map was pointing him. I followed a few inches behind, letting him lead. We dashed across sand dunes, diving out of sight when a few tanks drove past. Eventually I heard strange murmuring on the wind and took off ahead of Rob, rushing towards the noise.

It was Kaldur, blissfully hidden behind a large rock outcropping and calling out in Atlantean. I knelt by his side, feeling the rest of the Team come up behind me. Laying the back of my hand on his forehead, I noted that he was burning up. I scooped his head up into my lap, tears pricking at the corners of my eyes.

"I can't restore his memories in this condition," M'gann said woefully, face downcast but still determined.

"He needs immediate rehydration, now." Rob said, "call the Bioship!"

"It's out of range," M'gann said, standing from her crouching position next to me to turn to Wally, "but you can get him there fast!"

Wally shook his head, "he's too heavy, and I'm too low on fuel. Right now, I couldn't even carry her," he said, jabbing his thumb towards Artemis.

She swatted his hand away with a scoff, looking down at M'gann, "why not just levitate him back?"

"I can't," M'gann said earnestly, "I have to find Superboy! Six months ago he didn't exist, he has no memories, just animal impulse. I'm the only one who can help him."

"Superboy's indestructible," Wally disagreed, all wild hand gestures, "just ask those tanks! It's Aqualad who needs your help. Like, now!"

M'gann slammed her hands over her ears, clearly hearing something we weren't. Though the wind blew towards us and I caught the faint end of an animalistic scream through my earpieces. I felt my expression fall, and I turned to M'gann, "go find him and get back here as soon as possible."

She nodded flying off, and Rob called out into the sky, "wait! We still don't know what erased our memories! It could happen again!"

Wally whipped to face me, "why would you tell her to go? And who made you leader?"

I regarded him coolly, slamming up every wall I ever made, "Kaldur's in trouble yes, but he's tough. Superboy will regain his memories, and he'll remember everything that's happened to him. Have you read up on Bialyan torture techniques Wally? Because I have, and I assure you they're not something you just walk away from."

He blinked and then paled, hands coming to awkwardly rest at his side. Averting his gaze, he cleared his throat, "no you're right. I forget sometimes, that you've seen so much more than me even though you're younger."

Artemis watched the exchange with curious eyes but I turned my attention back to Kaldur, who was still crying out. I almost lost it when I heard him call out for Tula, and then his mother. I ran my free hand through his hair like Selina had done for me once, trying to remember how to comfort him. I didn't know what to do, I didn't know Atlantean, so instead I just started talking to him in English, hoping that he had studied it for longer than six months. "Hey there Kaldur, it's Arabella. I know you don't remember any of us, but you remember Tula right? Tula, your best friend? The one you're in love with? You have to stay with us for her, okay? Remember how you told me about when you were ten and that stuck up kid in your class dared you to kiss her? Well you never get to concoct an evil plan to steal her back from Garth and do that again if you die in the middle of the Bialyan desert. Or eat ice cream again, you like that, remember?"

As I talked he quieted, and I paused rather abruptly when his head listed to the side, a low groan rumbling up from his throat. Artemis motioned frantically for me to keep going, and I swallowed and kept prattling on to him, talking about the dress Selina had bought me for an event coming up she was forcing me to go to, and how pretty it was but the heels made me want to cry, and about the choreography I was doing for Jessi and how he'd better not kick the bucket because he promised to come watch it, about the TV show Rob and I had just started and how good it was, but I thought the protagonist's boyfriend was a total asshole, and how proud Aquaman and his mom was going to be of him when we went home.

Eventually, his murmuring had stopped completely but he was so still I was starting to worry that he was dying. I looked up at Wally, "can you do a perimeter check for something we could carry him with? He needs to get back to the Bioship."

He nodded and zoomed off, leaving a spray of sand in his wake. I sighed, gently lowering Kaldur's head to the ground and standing. Artemis cast her gaze to the ground, "I just wish there was something we could do."

"We could radio the League," Dick suggested, eyebrows pinched together as he looked down at the Atlantean.

"Absolutely not," I said, "it'd get intercepted, and Queen Bee'd spin it into an international incident. Kaldur wouldn't want that, none of us do."

"You can't know that!" Artemis protested, hands on her hips, "he's _dying_ , you can't speak for him!"

I raised my eyes to hers, keeping a cool composure, "he knew what he was getting into when he signed up to be Aqualad. He knew what he was getting into when he agreed to lead this team and he knew what he was getting into when he agreed to go on this mission despite his biology. We _all_ know Kaldur, and he sure as hell wouldn't want to start a global conflict."

She looked exhausted all of the sudden, voice small and quiet, "why would they give us comms and tell us not to use them?"

I shared a look with Rob and he sighed, "they're a last resort. An absolute, last resort."

"Well Kaldur's awfully damn close to needing that _last resort_ ," Artemis sniped, the wind blowing her ponytail off her back.

A breeze and spray of sand accompanied Wally's return. He was holding a ragged piece of cloth and two long bits of wood. "I couldn't find much but I figured we could make a stretcher out of this?"

I looked up at what we had to work with, "much better than nothing, thank you, Kid."

He nodded and we set to work on the stretcher, wrapping the cloth around the poles and fastening it with bobby pins from my utility belt. Artemis shook her head, "I still can't believe you have _bobby pins_ in there."

I shrugged, "Bats always said to bring everything you could ever need to a mission," I gestured to my hair, "the poof necessitates bobby pins."

"The poof?"

"It's her affectionate nickname for her hair," Rob called, not without humour, grabbing Kaldur under the arms, "you guys wanna help?"

He and Wally lifted Kaldur onto the stretcher as Artemis and I held it steady. Kaldur's breathing was even more laboured, and I couldn't tell if that, or the quiet, shallow breaths he had been taking when we found him were preferable.

Wally and Artemis took the front poles, bearing the majority of the weight and I brought up the rear, with Robin guiding us via his map, where a marker that denoted the Bioship was about two miles out, apparently. We trudged on, footsteps quiet and trying our damnedest not to disturb Kaldur.

The slow rumble of tanks on the move filled my ears and I paused, ears practically swivelling towards the sound and I gestured to Robin. He nodded, looking around and then pointing at a large rock outcropping, whisper-yelling, "quick over there!"

We crawled behind it as fast as we dared, soldiers bursting from the tanks. As we placed Kaldur down he groaned, setting off a string of mumbled Atlantean. He called out for Tula, and I only caught her name, Atlantis and the word for 'love'.

"Shh Kaldur," Artemis hushed him, "quiet now."

I risked a whispered sentence, kneeling to speak in his ear, "it's okay, you'll see her again."

Rob peered over the rock, and from the look on his face as he turned back to us he didn't like what he saw, "we can't risk a firefight with Aqualad KO'd like this."

Wally huffed, little pants interspersing his words, "it's not just him… I'm way outta juice."

"And I'm almost out of arrows," Artemis said worriedly, hand coming around to drag her quiver into sight.

I had to agree with them, my limbs ached, I had a splitting headache and there was no way I could concentrate in a physical altercation right now. I turned to relay this to Rob only to find him gone without a trace, a true testament to my tiredness that I didn't hear or feel him leave.

Kid groaned, "ugh I forgot how much I hate it when he does the ninja thing." Suddenly his eyes widened and then narrowed, "hey! You never said why your dad would want you to— me," he cut himself off by drawing a line across his throat and making a choking noise.

"She _what_?" I asked, utterly confused.

Her gaze slid to the side and I filed it away as one of her tells, "I got confused… by uh… some old movie I saw the other night?" She flicked her hand in dismissal, "'bout a ninja girl whose ninja dad ordered her to kill her ninja boyfriend 'cause he was from a rival ninja clan."

That had to be her worst lie yet but Wally was hung up on the end, " _so_ ," he said with a smirk, "I'm your ninja boyfriend, huh?"

"Hey! She said sharply, " _amnesia_ , remember? Completely forgot how _truly annoying_ you are."

Their noses were inches apart and really wanted to A, yell at Dick for leaving me alone with them and B, be smote immediately by some compassionate god. Wally's eyes narrowed, "oh, like you're the goddess of congeniality!"

"Yeesh!" Rob hissed from where he had apparently magically appeared, "get a room!"

I threw my hands up in the air, " _thank you_! You know if you two are going to eye fuck and throw your weird sexual tension out everywhere don't do it in front of _me_."

Wally's cheeks coloured and he abruptly changed the subject, swatting Dick's knee, "dude! Where were you?!"

His eyes narrowed and the usual impish smirk curled its way across his face, "breaking radio silence."

He ducked behind the rock and I refrained from poking out my head as his signature laugh started to echo throughout the dunes. (Seriously, I swear he had that laugh registered with the Copyright Office.) Blinking, I realized he had used his communicator to lure away the soldiers.

Suddenly there was an explosion, sending sand and smoke flying everywhere. Rob turned to us, "that's our cue, move!"

We didn't hesitate, immediately grabbing Kaldur's stretcher and taking off into the dark.

It only took us fifteen minutes to arrive at the Bioship, and then we remembered that M'gann was the only one who could control it. Setting Kaldur down, we eyed the ship.

Wally sidled on over to it, resting his hands against the smooth metal, "uh, nice ship? Let us in?"

Artemis rolled her eyes, "it's not a _dog_ Wally."

I narrowed my eyes, striding over to it, "that's fucking it." I started banging on the hatch, "let us the _fuck_ in my friend isn't dying here to- _fucking_ -day!" I ended with a swift kick to the door and to my utter shock, with low shudder the gangway came down, providing us with a ramp.

"Well," Robin drawled, "apparently if you yell, curse, and beat the shit out of it, it listens."

"Good enough for me," I hissed, picking up the back end of Kaldur's stretcher. "Help me carry him to the back, he needs fluids."

We dragged him to the cabin, setting him up on the medical slab, which was more like a massage chair with its padding and headrest. I made for the drawer containing the IV bags as Rob wheeled over the pump. I squirted hand sanitizer onto my palms, hoping it was enough to wash the sand away. "Let's just pray I remember how to insert an IV."

"Do you need me to do it?" Dick asked, propping Kaldur's head up.

I shook my head, but I threw him the bag containing the tubing, "will you take care of this though while I do the saline?"

He nodded, ripping into the plastic with his teeth. I took the saline bag out of it's wrapping, popping the cap off the spout. Rob handed me the spike, and I dug it into the saline with a plastic squeak, locking the tubing with a swipe of the dial and flipping the bag upside down.

Artemis watched as we worked in tandem, Rob hanging the bag upside down as I squeezed the little chamber to prime it and then let the fluid run through the tube, locking it again once the air bubbles disappeared. She peered over my shoulder, "where did you two learn how to do this?"

I snorted, "weekends at the Batcave growing up consisted of martial arts, language learning and courses in basic medical care. Rob does the best stitches but I'm better at finding veins."

"Speaking of," he said, handing me the freshly sterilized needle after playing around with the setting on the pump, "time to connect it."

I nodded, feeling the pressure as I cleaned Kaldur's arm and tied on a tourniquet. Turning my head to the side and grabbing an extra needle I called out to Rob, "hand me some lidocaine? I don't want him to wake up or move around while I'm putting the needle in."

The bottle appeared in my hand in seconds and drew a little out, and then injected the anesthetic into Kaldur's arm carefully. I grabbed the actual needle now, pausing to call over my shoulder, "I forgot to split some tape, mind doing that for me?"

"On it," he called back, and I focused on making this as easy and painless for Kaldur as possible. The whole ordeal felt too clinical, and I couldn't help but be slapped in the face with the realization that this was my teammate and friend on the table in front of me. Steadying my shaking hands, I slid the needle into the crook of his arm, the saline flush tube in my hand before I could ask for it.

I flushed out the catheter, then took away the flush tube and applied pressure immediately to prevent backflow as I screwed the tubing of the actual IV pump into the catheter, taping it down with the strips helpfully provided by Rob.

Looping the tube and taping that down, I let out a shaky breath as I realized I was done. I buried my face in my hands and steadied myself against the medical slab, taking three deep breaths. I felt an arm snake around my shoulders and Dick's voice sounded in my ear, "you did a good job."

I nodded into his shoulder, trying to shake off the adrenaline rush that was making my hands shake. I brought my face out of my hands and grabbed a medkit, dumping its contents on the counter. I gestured to it, "if you guys are hurt, there's bandages and antiseptic here." I blinked for a second before pointing to Wally's ankle. "You should wrap that, you might've sprained it when you tumbled earlier."

He grabbed a compression wrap and two painkillers, and I followed suit, hoping they'd kill my pounding headache. From there, I filled up the empty medkit with water and grabbed a rag, wetting it and moving back over to Kaldur to apply water from the outside. I cupped some in my hand and poured it over his gills, watching as they puckered in the presence of the liquid.

His skin peeled away in bits and pieces as I dragged the rag across it, trying to convince it to absorb some of the water. Biting my lip, I swiped the little balls of skin away as gently as possible. I made a mental note to give him some kind of painkiller because he was going to be burnt as hell.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I felt someone rubbing some kind of gel on my face. I looked up to find Rob standing there, fingers swiping across the bridge of my nose. He held up a clear bottle, "aloe vera, you always burn the worst here."

"Make sure you get the back of your neck and ears," I murmured, turning back to the task at hand. Dick, being the luckiest asshole ever, only ever burned there. Everything else just tanned while I turned as red as a lobster and then automatically faded back to porcelain white.

I considered taking some of the aloe vera for Kaldur's skin, but I figured he wouldn't appreciate me rubbing shit into his chest and arms, at least not whilst he was unconscious. Artemis came over, gently prying the rag from my hands, "let me take that for a minute. Why don't you go sit down and decompress?"

I followed her instructions, heading out to the Captain's room with the chairs where I had seen Dick disappear out of the corner of my eye. He was sitting quietly and I plopped down in the chair closest to his. Letting my head loll back towards the headrest, I closed my eyes. Sighing, I forced one open, "the amount I worry about whether you're dead or alive is going to drive me to an early grave."

He cracked a smile, "I feel your pain."

I reached to grab his hand, and I leaned back again, tiredness pulling at my weary limbs. I dozed off like that, in an uncomfortable chair with Dick tracing patterns across my hand.

* * *

 **BIALYA**

 _ **September 5, 02:32 EEST**_

* * *

I woke up to M'gann's voice bounding through my head, " _hey everybody! I've got Superboy, he's back to normal and we're on our way!_ "

I jumped ten feet in the air, especially as I heard what sounded like Kaldur shouting in the back. From the mindlink, the general sense I got was one of utter _what the fuck_ on his end. I turned to Rob, rubbing my eyes, "how long did I sleep for?"

He smiled, a little softly, "only like twenty minutes. C'mon, let's go explain before Kaldur loses his mind."

M'gann's voice blew through my head again, " _hello Megan! Aqualad's memories! I knew I forgot something_."

" _Aw man_!" Kid called across the link, " _me too! I didn't get a souvenir from the mission_."

" _Don't worry_ ," M'gann said, sounding vaguely amused, " _got the souvenir thing covered_."

" _Do we even want to know_?" Rob asked as we made our way to the back. Kaldur had apparently been given his memories back, as an expression of fear was melting away into one of exhaustion and relief.

We walked over and I swallowed as I saw where his skin had peeled away and the dullness of his eyes. I paused a foot away from his slab, "how you feeling?"

"What's the expression? Like I've been run over by a truck?" He answered, peering at us from behind the hand that rested on his forehead.

I winced, "ooh, I can sympathize. Do you need anything?"

He shook his head, "I believe I'll feel better with rest." Suddenly he smiled, "I have to thank the two of you though. Artemis told me you provided me with medical attention."

Rob shrugged, "no big deal. Nice to see you alive and kicking, you had us worried for a minute there."

Kaldur shook his head fondly, "nonetheless, it's appreciated. Will we be heading back to the Cave soon then?"

"As soon as Supey and M'gann get here," Wally assured, typing away at what I assumed was the record for this mission. As per League standards, either before or after debriefing one of us needed to type up a log for the League's database. We took turns going in order of age, and apparently Kid was stuck with it today.

Suddenly a loud bang sounded from the other room and a strange whirring and rolling noise accompanied it. Superboy and M'gann burst into the room, alongside some kind of giant metal ball with a strange marking in the center. It appeared to be moving autonomously and I decided I had seen enough weird shit today.

I leaned against Rob, tiredness hitting in waves as M'gann explained how she found Superboy and they defeated Psimon, the psychic who had wiped our minds and how this ball, which Superboy called 'Sphere', had helped and how we were keeping it as per his request. Kaldur said something vaguely leader-y along the lines of 'good job out there' and I nodded, double-checked that he was okay, brought him a new bag of saline and then went back to the Captain's room to go pass out.

Sinking into the nearest chair, I mumbled a thank-you to M'gann as it stretched out beneath me to become something like a reclined seat in a car. I thought of Kaldur in the back, and the little knot in my stomach tightened. Logically, I knew that what happened to him was hardly my fault, but I still couldn't shake the feeling. Dick would probably say it was a side-effect of my martyr complex, and the boy in question slipped into the room. Sitting in the chair next to mine, he spun it to face me, "you're feeling guilty."

I looked up at him with tired eyes, "I didn't say anything."

"No, but the look on your face says everything. Spill."

I sighed, speaking quietly, "I just… maybe if I had agreed with you guys on bringing Kaldur here first he wouldn't be so hurt."

"And maybe Superboy'd be really injured, or scarred for life. There's always a trade-off, you know that. You can't torture yourself with what-ifs, besides we all know there's no way we could have stopped M'gann. She was hellbent on finding him."

I frowned, "I know it doesn't make sense, it's just how I feel."

He nodded, "and that's okay. But for what it's worth, Bat's would have done the same thing."

My voice was even smaller this time, "is that really good though?"

We both went quiet. Bruce and his decision-making skills was an infrequent topic in our conversations, but we shared the same opinion. He could be too harsh, too clinical. Rob's hand came to rest on my back, "yes, because you two would have made the same decision for different reasons. He would have wanted the manpower, and you did it because you knew he was in pain."

I relaxed into the chair, darkness pulling at me again, "I heard him screaming on the wind. That's what pushed me over."

The last thing I saw before fading into sleep was his face, an expression I couldn't identify drawn across it. He almost looked… sad, and I tried to offer him a sleepy smile.

* * *

 **MOUNT JUSTICE**

 _ **September 5, 06:38 EST**_

* * *

I sighed, padding down the hall leading towards our bedrooms at the Cave. We had all been debriefed and Kaldur had been moved to the med bay for the time being, hooked up to another IV by Red Tornado. For the time being however, I had something I had to do.

I came up to Artemis' door, knocking lightly. I heard her feet padding towards me, and then said door swung open. She was in civvies, but nothing you would wear to bed. Most surprisingly though, her hair was down, falling around her face in a golden curtain. She looked a little paranoid, "yes?"

I gestured to her room, "can I come in?"

She nodded, opening the door a little wider and stepping away so I could walk inside. I closed the door behind me with a soft click and found her sitting against her headboard, legs drawn up. It was a defensive position, so I sat at the end of her bed, one leg draping over the side and the other bent like I was sitting criss-cross. I tried to appear as open and warm as humanly possible. "So. Couldn't help but notice you and Wally had a moment earlier."

Her cheeks flushed, "it's nothing like what you're thinking."

I shook my head, "that's not what I was talking about. He said something about your dad and you killing him? And don't blame it on some stupid ninja movie, you had amnesia, you weren't incapable of separating reality from fantasy."

She looked scared. So ungodly terrified that it hurt to know I was the one bringing it about. I spoke a little quieter, "I don't know what's wrong, but I think of you as a friend Artemis. I'd never judge you, I just want to help. But I'm drawing the line at mentions of murder." She didn't look convinced, wary with muscles drawn tight, like she was going to sprint away any second. I sighed, making up my mind. "When I was born, my mom left as soon as she could. She knew if anyone found out she had a daughter, it'd draw the biggest target imaginable on my back. So she left, and I grew up being told she had died during childbirth, and when I was five my father was killed by a local gang because he was behind on payments to them. I went across the hall to my neighbour and she found me covered in his blood and crying."

Artemis' eyes were wide, "A-Arabella-"

I cut her off by continuing, "I was brought to an orphanage and then I was placed in the foster system. My first family sent me back after the first few months and after that I was shuffled from family to family until I ran away when I was seven. After that, I lived on the street. The first few months were pretty shitty, but an older girl kind of took me in, and we stayed like that for a really long time. We were pickpockets and petty thieves, and our lives kind of sucked but we had each other. Her name was Carla." I let out a long, shaky breath, "then we got stupid. Too comfortable, too confident. We tried to steal from a really notorious gang, with Carla as the distraction. We got found out and she got shot as we were running away. She died that night, and the police found us and dragged me kicking and screaming away from her body, after that they put me back in the foster system."

I kept going, telling her every little detail about Rick and my escape, how I met Rob, how he and Bats saved my life and how Selina found me. By the end, she was slack-jawed, all the obvious discomfort gone from her body language. I offered her a little smile, "now you've unlocked my tragic backstory, any way I could get yours?"

Her mouth pressed into a tight line, and then she averted her eyes. Sighing she curled back into herself, "my dad's name is Lawrence Crock, but you know him better as Sportsmaster. My mom's name is Paula Nguyen-Crock, and her alias was Huntress."

I blinked, trying to absorb the new information. I immediately ran over everything I knew about the two names in my head. Huntress was vaguely unfamiliar, but I had heard the name before. Sportsmaster however, was very very familiar. Suddenly I saw it, they had the same colour hair, the same cheekbones and sharp jaw. I instantly wanted more information, "you said your mother _was_ Huntress?"

She nodded, looking back at me, "she took the fall for my dad a good while back. She became a paraplegic, went to jail for six years and when she came back she went on the straight and narrow, told my dad to get the hell out of dodge and never looked back." She went on and on, telling me about her sister Jade, A.K.A Cheshire, the assassin we had run into when we were protecting Serling Roquette. That she let her get away so she wouldn't tell us who Artemis really was. How her dad had forced them to train since they could curl their fingers around a weapon, had forced them to fight each other and whoever lost was punished. How he had tried to train and beat the 'weakness' out of them, how he had spiralled after Paula was caught, how he'd become even more abusive and how Jade had run away soon after. After that he'd started leaving Artemis in the apartment for weeks and then months alone on end for 'business trips', and by the time Paula had come home Lawrence more or less just ghosted in and out, leaving checks for food, clothing, the rent, and bills.

The words poured out of her in a constant stream and I realized she had probably been dying to tell someone, anyone. Eventually she trailed off, breathing in shaky little gasps and despite myself I launched across the bed and wrapped my arms around her. I tried to shove all the affection and love she had missed out on into the hug, "I'm sorry."

Her voice cracked when she spoke, "you don't hate me? You haven't stopped… trusting me?"

I tightened my grip, "all you've ever shown me are reasons to trust you, Artemis. Even when you had no idea who we were you had our backs in Bialya, and that means a fuck ton. You're not your parents, and it isn't anyone's place to judge you for who they are or what they did, or for anything you did as a kid when that was all you knew." She made a weird little choking noise, and I realized she was holding back a sob. I pulled away, looking her dead in the eye, "it's okay to cry you know."

Her entire face crumpled, and then she did, breaking down completely in front of me as I rubbed circles onto her palm. Suddenly everything about her made sense, like I had been looking at her through frosted glass and now she was in perfect focus. The defensiveness, the isolation, the lies, the way she shoved down her emotions and hid behind a façade of cool sarcasm. I related to her so much it made my heart break, for wildly different reasons but the end result was the same. So I held her hand as she cried and I swore I'd help her the way I had been helped.

Eventually her sobs quieted to little sniffles and she looked nervous again, "promise not to tell anyone? I know I really, really should but I'm not ready. I just keep seeing everyone's faces and I- I can't."

I nodded, "I won't tell a soul, I promise."

Her eyes were the most vulnerable I'd ever seen them, "not even Robin?"

I blinked, realizing that for pretty much the first time ever I had a secret I couldn't tell Dick. "Not even Robin, but he's not an idiot, and he's definitely caught on by now that you're not telling the whole truth, and he might go looking for the answers on his own."

She looked instantly paralyzed by fear, "he wouldn't tell anyone would he?"

I shook my head vehemently, "no, never. Well, maybe Batman if he thought he didn't know but I'm assuming he does, given that you were allowed on the Team."

She looked instantly relieved, "he knows, the entire League does."

"Then you have nothing to worry about. Rob's an ass sometimes but he's the absolute best person to tell your secrets. You can wait to tell everyone when you're ready, even if you're never ready."

She nodded, "when I'm ready."

* * *

 **Sweet baby Jesus this chapter. Admittedly a little easier than the other one, but I had such a hard time with the pacing and I still don't know if it feels really awkward. But I'm mildly proud of it, pretty sure it's one of my longest chapters yet, so I packaged it in with Downtime because that was so short. But, I'm working on the next chapter right now, and it should be up at least by next Sunday, if not feel free to yell at me I deserve it. Happy Mother's Day to any moms who might be reading this and just a general happy Mother's Day to everyone. See you next time!**


	10. Targets

**So, haha. Ha. Exams kicked my ass. I underestimated them, I was unprepared. I spent a solid three weeks of my life with my head in varying textbooks stopping only to eat, use the bathroom and shower. And then I got a really amazing opportunity to attend a youth leadership conference that was a few weeks long, (basically social justice summer camp), and now I've been home for a bit and I finally have chapters for you guys! I'm doing another double-upload, mostly because not a whole lot actually really _happens_ in these, but they're still really important to the story overall, and because I suck. (Seriously if you're reading this I'm sorry and you're amazing for actually bothering to click on this.) Anywho, stay tuned for more of my rambling at the bottom!**

* * *

 **GOTHAM**

 _ **September 6, 10:34**_

* * *

I sighed softly, nuzzling back into my pillow as the sun pouring through the window warmed my face. French jazz was echoing from the next room over, so Selina must be home. There was a weird persistent buzzing waking me up, and I cracked my eye open to see that my phone was shaking like a maraca. Groaning, I flipped onto my back and hit my home button, the screen notifying me that I had twenty texts from M'gann.

I sighed, pulling up the thread to find that she was deliberating on what to wear. I ignored her rambling and pulled up my keyboard, ' _how about I just come over and help you?_ '

I peeled myself off my bed and stumbled to the door, trudging down the hall to find Selina humming as she reorganized the living room, dressed in a red silk kimono. I raised an eyebrow as she placed a vase I had never seen before on an end table. Grinning, she pulled me into a ballroom hold, dancing us across the floor in time to the music coming from the gramophone. I narrowed my eyes, "I see we've miraculously obtained new and expensive looking furniture."

She rolled her eyes, "does it soften the blow if I tell you the man who owned it was an ass and they were sitting in his attic collecting dust?"

"Not particularly, what did we say about you stealing?"

"Who's the parent here?"

"Speaking of, parental permission to probably take M'gann shopping?"

She tightened the sash of her kimono, "I suppose. Though for god's sake please take her to a boutique here instead of a _mall_."

I wrinkled my nose, "she wants to blend in, Sel, I doubt everyone at Happy Harbour High is rolling up to school in designer clothing."

She huffed, hanging an elaborate oil painting of a field of forget-me-nots on the wall, "just promise me you won't come back in a crop top from Forever 21."

I rolled my eyes, turning back towards my bedroom, "you're such a snoot."

"I refuse to clothe my child in polyester!" She called as I closed the door. I checked my phone to find M'gann's cheerful reply; ' _as soon as you can please!_ '

Going through my usual daily hygiene practices, I pulled my still-wet hair into a ponytail where it'd stay wet for another three hours and dressed in my usual fare. Snatching my messenger bag and phone, I walked towards the front door.

I forewent breakfast, knowing M'gann had probably started making a brunch of epic proportions as soon as she got my text. Just as I was about to leave Selina poked her head around the doorframe of the living area, "make sure you're home by four, I have to get you ready."

I froze, turning slowly, "ready for what?"

Her eyes narrowed, "surely you haven't forgotten the charity gala Bruce does every year?"

I inwardly groaned, "I thought it was March yesterday, don't I get a pass? Let my mind recover before it's picked apart by snotty socialites?"

"Uh uh," she said as she wagged a finger, "no conniving your way out of this, I have your outfit planned. You _will_ be home by four so we can swing by Paolo's."

"Yes mother," I groaned, swinging the door open and closing it behind me. Today was going to be a long, long day.

* * *

One Zeta port and a quick shopping trip later, I was in M'gann's bedroom warming waxing strips between my palms. As I peeled them apart, she grabbed my wrist, "will it hurt?"

I tried not to look exasperated, "one, no not really, two, if you're scared you could literally just shift the hair away like you do acne, three, I assure you that you have been through pain far, far worse."

She pouted but then straightened her face and allowed me to rip out her facial hair. I was quick about it, and immediately handed her the wipe that came with the pack. She held it up to her face, "why does it _burn_?"

"You just murdered your hair follicles what did you think was going to happen?"

She waved her hand at her closet, "what am I going to wear? I've tried on five million outfits but none of them feel right."

I slid the door open, revealing an array of clothing that would have made season one Rachel Berry proud, all a-line skirts, blouses and cardigans. It oddly suited her though, and I took everything out and dumped it on the bed. This lead to a two-hour long fashion montage, wherein we mixed and matched literally every article of clothing she owned.

Collapsing into the veritable pile of fabric on her floor, I turned my head to look at her. Almost simultaneously, we burst into giggles. I picked myself up and grabbed her typical ensemble of a cranberry skirt and cropped, short-sleeved cardigan with a white tank top underneath it. I held it out to her, "why not just wear this? It's really you, and if you change up too much you're gonna look like you're trying too hard."

Her eyes lit up, "you're right!" She launched herself up off the floor and hugged me fiercely, "I don't know what I'd do without you, Ara!"

My eyes flicked to the clock, "well you're about to find out because I have to go before my mom tracks me down and kills me."

She nodded, practically pushing me out the door, "you don't want to be late!"

I sighed, "tell me how everything goes tomorrow."

"I will!" She called, receding back into her ridiculously pink bedroom. I made for the Zeta Tubes, making it back to our apartment in record time. Selina was already waiting by the car as I walked up towards the apartment block, wearing the expression she used when she was either training me or forcing me into an uncomfortable pair of shoes. There was no way I was getting out of this.

To my chagrin, she gestured to the car and I climbed in the passenger seat, placing my bag at my feet. She turned the key in the ignition and the BMW growled into life beneath us. Trying to make it look absent minded, I curled my hand around the grab handle. Whether due to her six-inch heels or her general lack of patience, Selina drove like a crazy person. Her definition of slow was forty miles an hour, and I wasn't looking to get whiplash by her stomping on the breaks.

I fiddled with the radio until it hit the classic rock station, and Hey Jude poured out of the speakers. I hummed along until we pulled up to a parking meter in front of a nondescript building with a small hanging sign outside the door that read _Paolo's_ in gold, swirling font.

Feeding the meter, we made our way inside where a six-foot blonde in business casual greeted us with a plastic smile. In sharp contrast, a short, tanned, dark-haired man with a wide grin burst from the back, immediately pulling Selina and I into a tight hug. Paolo was the definition of the Italian stereotype, down to his mustache and expressive hand gestures. His speech was dotted with Italian terms of endearment and he gave off the aura of a well-dressed Santa Claus. He turned to address Selina, "what can I do for you today _cara_?"

She offered him a sweet smile, "we have a charity gala to attend tonight, so I'm looking to get our hair and makeup done, so we of course went to the best."

He laughed, full and rounded, "flattery will get you absolutely everywhere _angelo_ , what are you looking for?"

She went on to describe her vision for the evening, and I half-listened, taking in the new decorations since I had last been here. Paolo's salon had an aura of luxury, but it was still warm and inviting. It reminded me of Wayne manor that way, it's inherent coziness not drowned out by how expensive everything was. The floor was polished hardwood, with thick, dark red rugs every few feet. The walls were painted a deep plum colour and were covered in paintings in gilded frames. Black leather couches dotted the waiting area and each station was pristine and carefully organized. The whole salon gave off the air of being stuck in a bottle of red wine. I was snapped out of my reverie by Paolo patting my cheek, "you will look beautiful _piccola_!"

I smiled up at him, "with you behind it all, I'm sure I will." Despite my general dislike for getting all dressed up and whatnot, I did greatly enjoy Paolo's work. He was endlessly entertaining, and I _did_ like looking beautiful. I waited on one of the couches as Paolo worked his magic on Selina, and when she came to sit back down her hair was swept up in an elegant french twist, with a flawless smoky eye and crimson lipstick. I whistled lowly, "Bruce is going to lose his mind."

She gave me her best ' _what are you talking about?_ ' look as I rose from the leather, making my way to the chair where Paolo was waiting for me. He lead me around back to wash my hair, laying down a pre-warmed towel on the neck rest of the basin. He hummed a familiar italian pop song from the sixties as he did, quickly washing my hair and conditioning it, and then twisted it into a towel-wrap that magically balanced on my head.

As I sat back down in the chair, he pulled the towel loose, allowing my hair to fall. He stared me down in the mirror as he squirted some shine spray onto the ends of my hair, "now, I know what your mother said earlier but what are _you_ looking for today?"

I blinked, "have you seen my dress?"

His face lit up in a way that strangely reminded me of M'gann, "no, do you have pictures?"

I fished my phone out of my pocket, swiping through my camera roll until I got to the dress. It was admittedly beautiful, long and straight with a low, pointed sweetheart neckline. The actual body of it faded from a deep blue at the bust to pale, shimmery white at the hem in a sort of ombré effect. Then, attached under the bust and splitting just beneath it, an additional layer of see-through pale blue fabric fell around the skirt, making the whole of it glisten and swish softly when I walked.

Paolo made a little noise of excitement, "you will look gorgeous in it _stella_! I absolutely know what to do, may I?"

I gestured to my reflection, "whatever you think is best, go ahead."

We chatted as he worked, about how I was going to start school soon, about Selina, he asked several questions about Dick and whether he was going tonight. I watched as he twisted my hair up into a slightly messy braided chignon, and allowed him to repeatedly hit my face with a beauty blender. When he was done, I nearly gasped at my reflection.

I almost looked older, silvery blue eye makeup fading into smudged eyeliner all framed by my eyelashes, which held copious coats of mascara. My lips were a nude pink colour, and my cheeks were stained with pink blush making me look like I had just walked in from the cold. I was glowing, highlighter brushed across my cheekbones, nose, chin and forehead. My skin itself looked flawless, and I was taken aback by how beautiful it all looked, tendrils from my updo falling down to frame my face.

I refrained from touching it, instead turning a bright smile on Paolo, "it's stunning, thank you."

He winked, "I had a beautiful canvas to start with, I just added a little something."

Selina clapped as I made my way back over to her, setting the copy of Marie Claire she was flipping through down on the coffee table. Standing, she made for her wallet, "fabulous work as always, Paolo."

He grinned, folding his hands behind his back, "it was my pleasure."

We paid and left with little chocolates as parting favors, and I was actually kind of excited for tonight. Then I remembered the people and the fake smiles and the schmoozing and my mood was dead in the water.

I was surprised when instead of heading home, we turned out towards the outskirts of Gotham. Raising a questioning eyebrow, I turned to Selina, "where are we going?"

She sped up as we reached near abandoned back roads, "we're finishing up at the Manor. Bruce needs me as his date tonight so we have to be there a little earlier than everyone else."

I propped my arm up on the dash and held my face in the palm of my hand, turned to face her with a smirk tugging at the corner of my mouth, "his date you say?"

She swatted at me, "oh stop that you, you know I'm always his backup when he's out of women to string along."

"Which he only does to keep up his billionaire playboy façade," I reminded her. "For what it's worth the majority of the time you could cut the sexual tension between you two with a knife. You're worse than Artemis and Wally for god's sake."

"Artemis and Wally, eh?" She asked, abruptly changing the subject.

I slumped back in my seat, casting my gaze heavenward, "god it's annoying. Even when they lost their memories they were flirting with each other. They have that total hate-love thing going on where you can't tell if they're going to rip each other's throats out or clothes off."

Selina laughed lowly, "I'd like to meet Artemis, she seems like quite the formidable woman."

I nodded, "oh for sure." I didn't know how to express just how amazing she was to Selina, how her father had abused her, the environment she grew up in, so much like Selina and I's childhoods on the streets despite having a home. Her backbone was made of steel, pure and simple.

We pulled up to the infamous gates of Wayne Manor, and the swung open with a creak as Selina flashed her keycard. Pulling up to the front door, we exited the BMW and made for the entrance.

The Manor was strangely abandoned, workers bustling around with decorations and plates of food. This was per usual for galas and the like, the boys typically took refuge in the Batcave until absolutely necessary. Following Selina up the grand staircase to the guest room she occupied when she stayed here, I felt a twinge of excitement when she handed me the bag containing my dress.

I dashed behind the folding screen, hanging the bag from the corner of it and pulling the zipper down to reveal the stunning fabric. I gently pried it off the hanger, dressing in the careful manner Selina had ingrained in me when it came to expensive clothing. Thoroughly enjoying the way the skirt hissed as I walked, I came out from behind the screen to find Selina already in her dress.

She looked positively radiant in a strapless, mermaid-style black silk gown complete with long silk gloves. I smiled at her, "you look like if Audrey Hepburn and Jessica Rabbit had an elegant lovechild."

"That's the best compliment I'll receive tonight," she said, handing me my shoes. I both hated and loved these shoes. They were silver ankle strap heels, and thankfully only four inches tall but I could tell just from looking at them that my feet were going to _ache_ by the time the night was over.

I put them on, and while I appreciated the height boost I could already feel the strap digging into my toes. I gave Selina my best weary expression as I shoved the pearl earrings she handed me in my ears, "almost time to go down?"

The grandfather clock sounded from the corner and she smiled, "exactly time to go down. Guests should start arriving in five minutes."

I walked out behind her as I fastened my pearl necklace, spotting Bruce, Alfred and Dick at the bottom of the stairs. It was just like Selina to orchestrate a grand entrance to knock Bruce's socks off. She grabbed the railing as she walked down, not even bothering to watch her feet as she descended, a feat in six-inch stilettos. Her diamond jewellery gleamed in the low light and she maintained eye contact with Bruce as she walked. I damn near started laughing my ass off as his mouth formed a perfect 'O', eyes roving over her.

Shaking my head a little, I copied Selina's descent, though I went much faster and watched my freaking feet lest I broke my neck on the way down. I only made eye contact with Dick as I hit the second to last step and I was surprised to find a weird expression on his face. I was, however, absolutely delighted to find that I was his exact height with these shoes on, something that hadn't happened since we were eleven.

Alfred seemed to be holding back a smile, "you almost look ladylike, Miss Williams."

I wagged a finger at him, "never a lady, and for the last freaking time call me Arabella."

"You both look lovely," Bruce said, looping Selina's arm through his. I turned to face Dick, flicking my eyebrows up in a silent question, ' _you catch his expression when she came down?_ '

The corner of his mouth twitched in response and I laughed under my breath as I grabbed his arm. His familiar scent washed over me, bringing some level of comfort. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

I nearly choked on the sparkling cider I was drinking as I heard a familiar British voice hit my ears. Moving my head as quickly to the side as possible without damaging my hair, I spotted none other than Will-freaking-Sutton chumming it up with a handful of old guys, a none-too-happy Jessi on his arm. She looked beautiful in a pale pink gown with white lace creeping over the Queen Anne collar and bodice. She had a fake smile plastered across her face, laughing as one of the aforementioned old guys said something that was probably offensive and-or pervy. I tugged on Dick's arm, directing him to face the pair. "That's Jessi's brother, the asshole I was telling you about!" I hissed softly, eyes narrowing as I took in his regrettably handsome face.

Jessi caught sight of us and immediately lit up, subtly elbowing Will in the ribs. His eyes drifted towards us and I watched with a small amount of satisfaction as he trailed off, eyes widening as he saw me. He finished up his conversation and I couldn't tell which sibling was more eager to get over to us. I smiled warmly at Jessi, keeping my attention on her. She grinned back, detaching from Will to loop her arms around my neck in a hug, "you're here!"

I pulled away, "I meant it when I said I was a close family friend of the Waynes."

"Clearly," Will drawled, eyes drifting across my face, "has anyone told you that you look stunning tonight?"

I narrowed my eyes, "plenty of people, how much they meant it was debatable but you're not the first and you won't be the last."

He grinned, "I don't come for the exclusivity love, I come for the view."

Jessi turned to glare at him, "could you stop trying to be charming for five minutes while I talk to my friend?"

"Speaking of," I said, "Jessi, Will, this is my best friend, Richard Grayson."

"You can call me Dick though, everyone does," he said, shaking Will's hand.

"Has anyone ever told you that you have an unfortunate nickname?"

I bit down a smile as Dick rolled his eyes, "it's old-fashioned."

Will laughed, gesturing to me, "would you mind switching lovely companions for a dance?"

Dick shrugged, "my lovely companion can speak for herself."

Suddenly Bruce struck a glass, saving me by the bell, "ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my home." Polite clapping, "as you all know, Wayne Enterprises holds a fundraiser each year to fund the Wayne Scholarship, awarded each year to a single lucky recipient that will, given their continued academic success, be given a full ride to one of Gotham's most prestigious schools, Gotham Academy, and any university of their choice should they choose to pursue post-secondary education. All proceeds tonight will go towards funding that scholarship, and the many others the Wayne Foundation provides. Thank you for your time, enjoy your night!"

All at once there was a loud crash, and glass rained down from the ceiling as several figures dropped from the skylight. A tall man with green hair, inhumanly pale skin in a purple suit stood, pistol held precariously in a gloved hand. The Joker.

Harley stood next to him, hands on her red-and-black leather-clad hips. She was staring at him adoringly, mouth twisted in an insane grin. I instantly moved in front of Will and Jessi, eyes tracing a path to the study so I could get to the Batcave. Dick was next to me now, body held tense as Joker drew himself to his full height.

He grinned, "ladies and gentlemen, I'm afraid the evening's events have been a tad derailed."

Damn near simultaneously everyone in the room screamed and started running for their lives. I grabbed Dick's hand, tearing off towards the study, trying to kick my shoes off as I ran. I eventually managed it, dropping several inches in height but instantly going faster. As we hit the solid oak doors, the sound of Bruce and Selina panting behind us, I heard three gunshots and the din faded.

Joker's voice carried through the hall and I scrambled across Bruce's desk looking for the remote to open the fireplace. I hit the appropriate button, the entrance to the Batcave sliding open. We made for our suits, stripping down and throwing them on. Slipping my mask on with one hand, I did up the zipper on the back of my suit with the other. We scrambled around, grabbing weapons and utility belts as time ticked by. I stuck in my contacts and popped a pill, hearing small screams and the high-pitched sound of Harley's voice as my senses expanded. I snapped when I heard a little kid whimper in pain.

Racing from the room without waiting for the others, I slipped out of the study window to scale the wall of the Manor. Crawling over to the previously bashed-in skylight, I dropped into the ballroom. Hitting the gleaming floor with a soft thud, I examined the situation. About a quarter of the previous guests were huddled together on one side, one of Joker's goons walking past with a bag for valuables.

I tore off towards a little kid who was holding his hands over his face while one of the armed men screamed in his face. I jumped into the air, curling one arm under the man's armpit and the other around his neck, using the momentum to propel myself up into a thigh choke that dropped him to the floor. I grabbed his gun, unloaded it and threw it to the ground.

Grabbing the kid, I scanned the room for Will and Jessi, finding them huddled behind a table. I deposited the little boy with them, "take him, and get the hell out of here."

Jessi stared wide-eyed up at me and I remembered I was Catgirl right now, "um, what about his parents?"

I cast a glance at the little boy, who was starting to cry and I offered him my best smile, "I'll find them, and they'll find him. Just get yourselves to safety and we'll take care of the rest."

They nodded, making for a corridor while I covered them and then turned, looking for more of Joker's little henchmen to take care of.

The clown himself turned to me, "aww, is the little kitten all by herself?"

I walked forwards a few feet, taking on a battle stance, "let everyone go, and I won't rip your face to shreds."

I heard the sound of a gun cocking behind me, and something cold and hard pressed itself to the back of my head, "are you threatening my man?"

Cursing myself for not paying better attention, I raised my hands, turning slowly to find Harley with a menacing look on her face. I calmly stared down the barrel of the gun, "shoot me and my mother tears your throat out with her bare teeth."

"Oh definitely," Selina's voice echoed, and I shifted my gaze past Harley to see her standing with Bats and Dick. I took the moment of distraction to duck and sweep my leg out, knocking Harley flat on her ass. She hit the ground with an _oomph_ , immediately raising her hands and firing.

The bullet went past my shoulder, burying itself in the wall as I slugged Harley in the face, standing quickly and delivering another blow to her chest with my foot. Before I could move though, a thin arm circled around my neck and the Joker pressed a gun to my temple. His breath was hot in my ear, "now now, don't you know I'm the only one who gets to knock her around?"

Trying not to look visibly disgusted, I twisted my neck away from his mouth, desperately trying to think my way out of this one. Bruce stepped forward, "let her go, Joker."

"Mmm," he hummed, pretending to think about it, "no thanks. Now, we're going to leave and take her with us, and if you're a good little bat I'll send her body home in one piece."

He gestured to his henchmen and they all packed up, leaving through the skylight again. Suddenly the loud whir of a helicopter filled the air and a sharp pain hit the back of my head. I stumbled, the sensation of being thrown over someone's shoulder more happening to me than me actually experiencing it. The gleam of the floor was the last thing I saw before everything went _whoosh_ and the world faded to black.

* * *

The strangest feeling of weightlessness and all my blood rushing to my head was all I felt as I came to. There was something cold and tight wrapped around me, and when I cracked an eye open I found myself suspended upside-down over a giant tank of water. Only the Joker.

Thankfully, the water was empty and it didn't have sharks or some shit in it. So was not in the mood to be eaten alive. Blinking to adjust my eyes to the newfound light, I tried to pitch my body weight in the chains so I could spin to look around the space I was in. My turning revealed a large warehouse, and Harley leaning up against a rail high above me, standing on a catwalk of sorts. As soon as she saw I was awake, her eyes lit up, "wakey-wakey kitty! We have work to do!"

I licked my dry lips, "an abandoned warehouse? Really? Do you and Joker get off on clichés or are you just ridiculously unoriginal?"

She smiled, "you'll stop with the mouth once Mr. J gets to you."

I scanned the room for the man of the hour and found it empty, "speaking of, is he out running errands or what?"

She cast her eyes behind her, "he's dealing with an employee, he'll get to you soon."

There was an abrupt, blood-curdling scream that echoed through the walls of the warehouse and I suddenly very much felt the need to get the hell out of there. I had seen crime scene photos of ways that Joker killed people and there really wasn't a method he hadn't tried yet.

The sound of metal scraping across the ground approached and the Joker emerged from the darkness, splattered in blood and dragging a crowbar dripping with red. I rode through the wave of panic, trying to recede back into the icy place Bruce had taught us about. Steady breathing, keep him talking, look for an escape route. If he was looking to beat me to death, he was going to have to let me down at some point.

He was panting, and I was suddenly acutely aware of how fucking unhinged this man was. I started feeling for the padlock on these chains, praying it was within picking distance. If I could wedge a claw in there, I might be able to set myself free. From there, it was a matter of grabbing the chain to avoid the tank below.

Joker looked me over, "now. How should I kill the little kitty? Hanging? Burned alive? Bullet to the brain? No. Too unoriginal."

"I mean," Rob's voice drawled from the shadows, "you could- and this is just a suggestion, let her go?"

Joker immediately drew a pistol, "I want all of you out of the shadows or I'll see just how effective the cat's blood is as food colouring."

Slowly, Robin, Bats and Selina emerged from the dark. I would've cried with relief if there wasn't currently a gun pointed straight at my head. Harley started clapping, letting out a little squeal of excitement, "can I do it now puddin'?"

He ran a bloodstained thumb across her cheek, leaving a crimson streak, "not yet sweetheart, I have to give the speech first." He sauntered forwards, "you see Batsy, I figured we could turn this little hostage situation into a learning experience. In a few seconds, Harley here is going to drop the little kitty into that tank, and you're going to watch her die."

Selina stalked towards him, "let her go or so help me god-"

He cut her off, "what, you'll kill me? Harley dear, if you don't mind?"

She squeaked in enthusiasm, approaching a comically large lever like a Vegas showgirl. I closed my eyes and took a big gulp of air as she pulled it, air whooshing around me as I fell.

I hit the water with a splash, sinking slowly. I tried to stay calm, reviewing everything I could remember about drowning. I flipped myself over so I was lying back to the bottom of the tank. Opening my eyes told me some sort of steel lid had sealed me in, but there was still about six inches of space between the water and the top of the tank.

Righting myself to something akin to a standing position, I bent my knees, propelling myself upwards. The chains created too much drag though, and I just ended up losing air. I instantly turned my efforts to trying to break the glass. I slammed into it, kicked it and tried to scratch at it with my hands tied behind me. No such luck.

Black was curling around the edges of my sight, and suddenly I breathed in uncontrollably, the water burning as it entered my lungs. I lost all fight immediately, panic taking over as all I could think about was the burning in my chest and throat and nose. It was starting to fade though, a serene calm floating over me and suddenly I had the strange sensation of falling into the softest bed I had ever felt. No, not a bed, just dark. Pure black, and the further I fell the less it hurt.

Then there was brightness against the black of my eyelids and I was tumbling forward, sharp pain across my face as I fell out onto something hard. The first thing I really felt though was the burning again as I coughed and coughed and coughed, choking on the water as I attempted to breathe. I tried to crack my eyes open but the light was too bright, so I closed them. There were hands on my face, brushing hairs away, rolling me on my side.

I stayed like that for a while, hacking up a lung. The hands retracted as I rolled onto my knees, throwing up water onto the floor in front of me. They came back then, rubbing little circles onto my back and holding my ponytail back. There was too much sensation, pain and cold and wet.

When I finally regained some sense, I realized it was Dick next to me, swiping water off my face that either came from the tank or the tears as my bronchi tried to eject themselves from my body via my mouth. I sat up on my knees, turning to look at him properly, but before I could he pulled me into a bone-crushing hug.

I coughed again, "you know if you squeeze me that hard all your hard work on saving my life is going to go to waste when I suffocate."

He immediately let me go, pulling back to look me in the eyes, "I thought you were dead. You looked dead. All pale and floating."

I patted the ground, trying to settle myself, "well I think I got real close. How'd you get me out by the way?"

He shrugged, "Cat and Bats ran after Harley and Joker, so I used some explosives to shatter the glass. No need to thank me."

"Well," I said, rolling my eyes, "shall we join our illustrious mentors?"

He stood, bracing his hands on my shoulders, "it's funny that you think you're in any state to be fighting right now. Stay here, we'll take care of it."

I pushed him off, standing up myself, "it's funny that you think I'm going to let you run headlong into danger by yourself."

"No need," Bruce's voice cut in from behind us, "danger's taken care of."

Selina was on the warpath, positively fuming as she marched over to me. "If you _ever_ run off on your own before us again, I'm going to kill you my damn self and save the bad guys the trouble. What you did was reckless, careless, downright _idiotic_ -"

I cut her off mid-rant, "I heard a little kid in pain."

Her entire expression changed, dropping into something like shock, pity and frustration all at the same time. Bruce spoke up, "that doesn't excuse your actions Catgirl. You acted without thinking and that nearly got you killed."

Part of me wanted to argue that I was doing the right thing, and really, who was I when I wasn't being impulsive? But a larger part of me knew they were right, "it won't happen again."

"Good," Bats said, resting a hand on my shoulder, "now let's go home."

* * *

 **GOTHAM**

 _ **September 7, 00:04**_

* * *

The gardens at Wayne Manor were eerily quiet at this time of night, the only sound the fountain bubbling, accompanied by crickets and the hiss of the wind passing through the leaves. My throat still burned, and I sat on the edge of the fountain, trying to meditate and come down from the adrenaline high almost dying gives you. I still couldn't believe it, the whole evening felt like a whirlwind.

My head snapped to the side at the sound of a voice, "you doing okay?" It was Dick, standing in normal clothing with his hands stuck in his pockets.

I turned my attention back to the water, "yeah. Just a little amped up still."

He came forward to sit a few hand lengths away from me, "we were really worried."

The guilt came back and started clawing it's way up my throat. I just about lost my shit whenever one of them or a Team member was away by themselves on a mission. I couldn't imagine what it'd be like to have one of them kidnapped and watch them drown in front of me. I let my gaze drift down to the water, "I really am sorry."

"Hey. Hey, listen to me." He tapped my hand when I didn't look over to him and I begrudgingly lifted my eyes to his. He wasn't mad, or disappointed. He just looked concerned, "you didn't do anything wrong. You did what we're supposed to do, you protected people who couldn't protect themselves. And you sure as hell did it for the right reasons. You couldn't control getting hit over the head, or dumped in a tank, and you did everything you were supposed to do in that kind of situation. No one's blaming you."

I suddenly felt like a pressure had been loosened, like I had taped myself together and now I was letting myself fall apart. I dropped my head again, voice shaky, "thank you."

"No problem," he answered, and I realized his was thick too, and when I looked back up there were tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. I was a little surprised, Dick _never_ cried. He barely even voiced his emotions, much less expressed them.

I pulled him into a tight hug, propping my head over his shoulder, "hey, it's okay."

"I was really scared," he said, voice breaking and I tightened my grip, letting him rest his forehead against the crook of my neck.

We must've stayed like that for a half hour, and I pretended not to notice the tears he left down my collarbone, a few of my own dripping onto the back of his shirt. Eventually he pulled back and I seamlessly turned away so he could wipe his eyes, "wanna watch a movie?"

He laughed quietly, "yeah, that sounds good."

I jumped off the edge of the fountain, "first one to the couch gets to pick!"

I tore off, him cursing behind me as we raced through the gardens towards the Manor, and I as I flopped down onto the cool leather of the couch, hands held up in victory, I was never more grateful to be alive.

* * *

 **So the inspiration for this chapter came when I realized we never actually saw Arabella fighting in Gotham for Team-unrelated reasons, and I decided that was unrealistic. Paolo is one of my favourite characters, ever, I love him and he gets a slightly more important role later on, so look forward to that. He uses a lot of Italian terms of endearment, so here's what they mean: _Cara_ \- dear/my dear, _Angelo_ \- angel, _Piccola_ \- little one, _Stella_ \- star.**

 **Also! Will's line "I don't come for the exclusivity, I come for the view", is from Your Body is a Weapon by The Wombats, a very Will-esque band and I imagine him and his boys to make music that's very similar. If you don't know them, go listen to that song and the entirety of the Glitterbug album because it's great.**

 **I liked writing that last little moment, mostly because I feel like we always see Arabella worrying about other people and getting her panties in a twist about other people's safety 24/7 (we can't blame her, poor girl's been through some shit), so I thought it would be nice to show she's not the only one.**

 **That's all for now, see you next time! (Which will, and I do promise this someone find me a bible to put my hand on, be uploaded on Sunday. I promise.)**


	11. Terrors

**MOUNT JUSTICE**

 _ **September 14, 12:04 EST**_

* * *

"Wait, wait, wait," Wally said, mouth half-full of chips. "You and Supey are going undercover in Belle Reve to find out what the hell a handful of ice pops are up to?"

"Swallow before you speak," I hissed, drawing a hand up to my face, "I don't need to see your freaking bolus."

I practically heard him roll his eyes, "yes _mom_."

"To answer your question," M'gann cut in, "we _are_ going undercover. Connor and I are going because we can fake being the Terrors." Connor was Superboy's new name, picked for his civilian identity, and we had all taken to calling him it. Superboy was more of a title, and he didn't have a Kryptonian name like Clark, so Connor was the new default.

"Tommy and Tuppence Terror?" Rob asked, "the super-strength twins who've been rampaging through the south?"

"No, it's different set of twins from California, they have telekinesis," she replied sarcastically.

I faked a gasp, pretending to wipe a tear from the corner of my eye, "was that sarcasm? I'm so proud."

She giggled behind her hand, "I learned from the best!" All of a sudden her smile fell away, "I'm sorry I'll have to miss your performance."

"Don't worry about it, there'll be one in like, three months for sure," I said, trying my best to reassure her. M'gann had been more excited than me to watch me dance, and had called me crying immediately after receiving the mission assignment from Bats.

Her face lit up, "to celebrate Christmas, right?"

I couldn't help smiling at her sheer childlike joy, "that's right. God knows what kind of costume Stephanie'll dream up this year, but it'll be either inappropriate or hideous, or both."

"Halloween'll come before then though," Rob pointed out, "so get excited for that first."

M'gann damn near combusted at the thought, hands clasped in front of her, eyes shining. There was the distant sound of heavy footfalls followed by three other pairs of feet and I patted her on the knee, "cavalry's here for you."

She jumped up, flinging herself into my arms. Despite myself I found my brain mapping out her face and the distinct, sunshine scent she carried with her, just in case.

She went around hugged the rest of the room, even wrapping Artemis in a bear hug and when Bats, Kaldur, Connor and Martian Manhunter appeared at the door she was ready to go.

As soon as I settled back into my seat my phone started vibrating, Jessi's caller ID flashing from where my phone rested on the table. Holding out a hand to cut Wally off mid-sentence, I held the phone to my ear, "hello?"

Jessi's voice came from the other line, "Ari, how much do you love me?"

"Not that much," I deadpanned, crossing my legs.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to come save me? My dad flew in for tonight and he and my mom are doing the passive aggressive thing."

I found myself scowling, her parents were a Dr. Phil episode waiting to happen, "where's Will?"

"Out with his friends, probably getting high somewhere. C'mon, you can bring those friends you mentioned."

I winced, I had offhandedly complained about Wally and Artemis, not even thinking about how I was going to explain how Dick's other best friend lived halfway across the country. "You do know Wally lives in Central City right? In Missouri, of all places?" Wally's eyes snapped up and I held out a finger, trying to placate him.

"And you told me he was flying in to see Dick this weekend, please? I want to meet them."

"Hold on," I dropped the phone from my ear, muting the receiver so Jessi couldn't hear me, "before I get yelled at, yes your SID's are safe, and also do you want to meet my psychotic friend?"

"Psychotic?" Wally asked.

I waved my hand, "the one with the ridiculous brother? I'm dancing for her thing tonight."

Artemis peered over the pages of her book from her curled position on the armchair, "shouldn't she be practicing? And shouldn't you, since you were complaining the whole time how little notice you had?"

I checked the clock on the wall, "it's like noon, the performance is at eight, if I start practicing this early I'll be worn out by the time I have to dance it for real. Day of rehearsals are pretty lax, I'm heading in at like six to see the stage and go through last minute stuff, we run through our pieces and get the hell out so other people have a turn and then Jessi gets to abuse my face and stuff me in whatever costume she picked out."

"Oh," Artemis said, blinking slowly, "I didn't realize it was so hectic."

I shrugged, "tiny performances like this usually are, if it was with an actual dance company it would be way more structured and you wouldn't have seen me for the past two weeks, but as is it's just going to be a lot of running around like a chicken with my head cut off in a three hour timeframe."

Jessi's voice curled into the air, "did you ask them yet?"

I momentarily un-muted myself, "will you hold on?"

"Hurry up!"

I looked back up at them, "please? She really wants to meet you two and I don't want to subject her to her dad all day, he's an ass. Plus that gives you two an excuse to come see me tonight."

Artemis lowered the book, "I don't know about that, is it fancy?"

Her hesitance made more sense now that I knew her background, "no, it's not gross and stuffy. You'd fit in wearing what you are now, Wally too, but he might want to brush the crumbs off his shirt."

That earned me a glare from him but she smiled, a rare expression, and any ire on Wally's part was instantly made worth it. He stopped staring me down too, instead shifting his gaze to Artemis' smile and I repressed the urge to gag as he stared dumbly at her.

"Wait," Rob said, "isn't there the whole matter of secret identities to worry about?"

I flicked my eyes towards him and then back to Artemis. He made a good point. I unmuted myself and brought the phone back up to my face, "Jessi hold on I'll call you back."

"Wait-"

I hung up on her, speed dialing Bruce's number. He picked up on the third ring, "yes?"

"Don't kill me but I may or may not have told Artemis confidential information about my identity."

There were a few seconds of silence and Rob and Wally nearly got whiplash from how fast they turned their heads. Bruce's voice was severe, "what did you tell her?"

"Not much, just how I got into the business and other such fond childhood memories." Rob turned to Artemis, almost asking something with his eyes and she curled further into her seat.

Bruce's sigh crackled across the line, "and what do you want to do about it? Get her to sign a confidentiality agreement?"

"No, I want to give her clearance to know who I am."

"Absolutely not."

I extended a finger towards the room and walked out, ducking into a hallway, "that's utterly unfair."

"Your identity is intrinsically linked with Dick's at this point, you can't tell me you're willing to hand over his too."

I rolled my eyes, "Wally already knows who we are, M'gann could reach into my brain and take everything I know if she wanted. You don't make me wear freaking sunglasses but Rob-"

He cut me off, "you know that's because you wouldn't even if I asked you to, and because it's your mother who has power over you there."

"Oh bullshit," I hissed, "admit it, the only reason you make Dick hide his identity is because you're trying to ingrain your rules in him because you want him to take on the Batman mantle eventually. For fuck's sake, I'm one of six people who know what his birthday is, none of the other League members are like this with their protégés."

"That's enough."

"You're right, it is enough, I'm telling her who I am, and she's coming to my thing tonight because she's my friend and I want her there. If you have a problem, take it up with my mother."

"Ara-"

I hung up, flicking through my contacts to dial Jessi. Marching back into the living room, Artemis, Wally and Dick's heads whipped up. "My last name is Williams, Wally already knows that, but no one else does so unless you're in the mood to bring down the wrath of Batman on yourself keep it between the four of us," I deadpanned, finally finding Jessi's number.

My eyes flicked up to Artemis' face as she lowered her book into her lap, "Arabella Williams?"

My name came out as more of a question as she tried it out and I nodded as I hit the call button, "Williams, meaning son of William. Oh, do yourself a favor and don't google me, you're too smart for your own good."

Jessi picked up, "well?"

I rolled my eyes, "Artemis is coming with me against her will and Wally's staying here."

"Awww, but I wanted to see them in action. They sound hilarious. I suppose you can't leave Dick all by his lonesome though." I made a little noise of assent, nabbing my bag off the couch, gesturing for Artemis to get up.

She raised an eyebrow and I stuck my phone between my shoulder and ear, clasping my hands in a pleading gesture. She sighed, grabbing a bookmark off the coffee table and I mouthed a quick thank you. Holding my phone again, I swung my bag onto my shoulder, "meet us on the corner of 5th and O'Donnel, okay?"

"On my way," she said, quickly followed by a dial tone. Tucking my phone in my bag, I turned to Dick, "you don't happen to have a USB with a virus that could get me backdoor access into an electronic seating chart lying around, do you?"

"Do I even want to know?" He asked, propping his face up on his hand to turn and look at me.

I shrugged, "probably not, if you're looking to avoid perjury."

He rolled his eyes, standing and making for the hallway that lead to our rooms here. I decided to follow him, pushing past the threshold and plopping down on his bed. He was rifling through his desk, and I found myself pinning my hands between my knees, "so I might have picked a fight with Bruce."

He laughed under his breath, "what else is new?"

"No, like an honest to god fight over telling Artemis my name. I hung up on him. You may have been involved. Just a little bit."

He stopped to look at me, "you didn't."

I dropped my gaze away from his, "possibly?"

He sighed, sitting down next to me, "I can fight my own battles you know."

I turned to face him, staring where his eyes would be if his sunglasses didn't cover them, "you shouldn't have to."

"No more picking fights with Bruce," he said, handing me the USB.

Standing up, I took it out of his hand, "no promises."

As I was headed out, I stopped in the hall and poked my head back around the doorframe, "Rob?"

He jumped a little, "yeah?"

I smiled, "thank you."

Artemis' voice called from down the hall and I raced back towards the Zeta Tubes before he could answer. She was waiting up against the wall, doing her best to look unhappy as Wally made his usual dorky quips. Her eyes flicked to me as I approached, and she stood up straight, "ready to go?"

I waved the USB in the air, "ready as I'll ever be."

* * *

 **GOTHAM**

 _ **September 14th, 17:37 EST**_

* * *

"And _then_ ," Jessi said, sucking in air between breathy laughs, "he turns around tells her, ' _oh and I'm rescheduling the end-of-term recital_ '. And she just… goes completely red and fucking squawks!"

"So," Artemis said, eyes bright, "you're telling me you sweet-talked the owner of your music school into switching the date of your recital because there was a party you wanted to go to that night?"

Jessi flopped down on a conveniently located bench, "yep, sounds about right. All I had to do was bat my eyelashes and tell him that I had only had two weeks to prepare and rehearse the choreography. Plus everyone else caught wind of it and they started pressing the issue too, because all of us would kill for extra time."

We were in Robinson Park, walking around and entertaining Artemis with stories from our shared adventures. The sun was starting to lower in the sky, turning everything a hazy blue. I sat next to Jessi, "only you would concoct a diabolical plan for the sole purpose of going to a rager."

"It was Sebastian Lockwood's end of summer party, I _had_ to be there!" she exclaimed with flailing hand gestures. "Plus with the sheer amount of money my dad donated to that music school the owner's practically on his payroll."

Artemis pointed a raised clock a few feet away, "if you guys want to be there for six you should be on your way soon."

I flicked my eyes over to it and realized she was right, we had like twenty minutes. I stood, "okay, so here's what we're going to do. I'm going to arrange your guy's seating when I get there, and there are ushers that'll bring you to them. Just make sure you get Wally and bring him on time."

Artemis looked wary but nodded, "I'll probably go home and tell my mom."

"Sounds like a plan!" I said, flashing her my brightest grin. We parted ways there, considering she lived on the opposite end of Robinson from where we needed to be. A quick cab ride later and we were outside of Jessi's music school.

When we came in we approached a graying receptionist who had the most horrible case of resting bitch face I had ever seen. As soon as she saw us though her face stretched into a warm smile, "names and performance number?"

"Jessica Vasquez and Arabella Williams, B7," Jessi answered smoothly. The secretary checked something off and stood up, leading us to a dressing room.

The room was beautiful but tiny, painted a clean white with black laminate flooring. The icing on the cake was that the walls were covered in enormous mirrors, each one surrounded by light bulbs, old-school vanity style. The receptionist handed us a key, "if you two need anything I'm out front. The stage should be free in five minutes or so."

We thanked her, and as soon as the door closed Jessi turned to me with an evil grin, "do you want to see it?"

I blinked, "see what?"

"The costume!" she said excitedly, setting her giant purse on the counter. She gestured wildly at me, "turn around!"

I rolled my eyes, turning away from her, "this is a bit dramatic."

"Ari, sweetheart, we've been friends for a month or so now. You should know dramatic is my middle name." There was the crackling of something being extricated from a plastic bag and the soft hiss of fabric unfolding, "okay, you can look!"

I turned and had to hold in a little noise of surprise. It was beautiful. The base of it was a navy blue camisole leotard, and from there a translucent, frothy skirt with a slit at the front for movement fell that was same the colour. It was embroidered with silver sequins in a swirling pattern around the hem that floated up to space out and form various constellations. It was surprisingly modest, and I couldn't believe I was going to get to wear it, "Jessi, oh my god."

"Isn't it beautiful?" she said happily, "I had it specially made, another thing you can thank the extra time for."

I shook my head, "it's absolutely gorgeous, thank you so much."

She hung it on a nearby rolling rack and pulled a makeup bag out of seemingly thin air with a manic grin, "and now, for the main event."

I held out a hand, "give me a minute before you attack my face, I have to use the bathroom."

She waved me off amiably enough and I slipped out of the room, USB drive in hand. Making my way to the receptionist's desk, I popped my head around the corner, "um, excuse me? I think there's a girl at the end of the hall asking for you."

She smiled up at me, "thank you sweetie, I'll go right now." I nodded, darting out of sight as I heard her footsteps clack down the hall. I immediately plopped down at her desk, plugging in the USB and getting to work. Thanks to Dick's absolute beauty of a virus, it took all of fifteen seconds to bypass the seating chart's minimal security. I cleanly added in Artemis and Wally's names, making sure to move them into decent seating that kept them well out of view of Bruce, Selina, Alfred and Dick.

I closed out of everything and reopened whatever she had been looking at down to where the cursor had been pointed, ducking around the corner again just in time for the receptionist to come back, mumbling to herself. Deeming my mission successful, I headed back to Jessi.

As soon as I opened the door she pulled me inside, a terrifying array of makeup products laid out. She settled her hands on her hips, "sit, now."

I groaned, but sat placidly in front of one of the mirrors. As she came around behind me a thought popped into my head, "what's with the performance numbers?"

"Oh, it's in order of when you're performing," she said as she began twisting my hair back into the half-up, half-down style we had agreed on. "A's go before intermission, B's go after and then the numbers decide what order you go in after that."

I hummed agreeably, it was a logical system, "so when are we going then? In the middle of the second half?"

She laughed nervously, "we're going last."

* * *

In the hushed quiet of the stage right before we began, I found the only thing I could think about was the influx of text messages I had gotten right before the show had started, when Jessi had been halfway through my eyeshadow.

That and the fact we were going _last_.

Most dancers would kill to go last, and objectively, I knew it was an amazing stroke of luck. The first and last performances were the most vied for spots, because that was when people really paid attention, and when you could make the biggest impression.

It was also the absolute worst spot to make mistakes.

This was ridiculous, I ran around fighting for my life and punching bad guys in the face on a nightly basis, and I couldn't think about throwing myself around on a stage to music for twelve minutes without my legs shaking.

"Will you calm down," Jessi whispered from next to me, "this isn't even your recital, I should be the nervous one."

"And that would be so comforting," I snarked back, "if we both didn't know that a dancer can make or break a performance. If I fuck up, it hurts you too."

"Except you won't fuck up," she assured, pasting on a bright smile as the MC's voice cut though the dark.

"Ladies and gentlemen, for our last performance of the night, please welcome to the stage Jessica Vasquez on piano," Jessi strode out, the spotlight following her as she smiled and waved to the crowd, and I darted out into the dark, striking my beginning position, "and her dancer, Arabella Williams!"

A second spotlight hit me, stinging my eyes as I focused on keeping a neutral facial expression until the music started, made difficult as I noted a very Wally-esque wolf whistle. I slowly let my mind blank, the rest of the performance falling into place around me just as we had planned it earlier with the tech booth. Jessi sat at the piano, the first few sweet notes of the beginning piece filling the air, and the light faded from a spotlight to an overall dimmed effect, making the constellations on my skirt stand out as I twirled lightly on my toes.

From there I relied purely on muscle memory from weeks of repeated practice, the style of dance was mostly lyrical, leaning towards the ballet end of things in the first piece and then to more contemporary movements after that. I tried to feel the music, trying to keep emotion on my face at all times. It helped that it was beautiful, Jessi was a stunning pianist, the sound pouring from her side of the stage absolutely mesmerizing.

But most of all I felt free. I never really felt like myself unless I was dancing, Catgirl and Arabella and all the other facets of my existence twisting together as I moved. It was expression in it's purest form, the very definition of body language.

It all came to a head at the climax of the last piece. It had started out soft, a sharp contrast to the fast-paced one we had placed in the middle, and now it had worked itself up to a huge crescendo and I had come to the most difficult move in the whole of the choreography.

I launched into fouetté turns, spinning so fast the crowd and the lights of the stage seemed to blur together, and then slowed fractionally to pull my left leg up straight in the air, throwing my body into the movement to keep momentum, determined not to fall over. My abs felt like they were on fire as I lowered into pump turns and then a pirouette as the music softened. I fell away from my previous position, moving through a few last delicate, straining movements before falling onto the floor in a sweaty heap as the music faded to a close and the lights on my end of the stage dimmed to black.

I couldn't believe it was over, face pressed into the cool linoleum of the stage floor. Body almost on autopilot, I stood, moving over to Jessi in the spotlight where she was already smiling and waving to the crowd. I followed her lead and the MC ran up on stage, the house lights coming on slightly. He gestured to us, "ladies and gentlemen, Jessica Vasquez and Arabella Williams!"

There was a thunderous clapping and then the grin on my face turned genuine. We had done it, it was done and we had done damn near perfectly. The rest of the performers ran out on stage as the MC called their names and I distantly noted a runner rolling the piano out towards the wings as we all formed a great big line, ending in the first performers. We grabbed hands, bowed, and as we rose the lights came on completely.

It took all of about five minutes to grab our stuff from the dressing room and go. We returned the key to the now-harried looking receptionist, and when both of our names were called at once we smiled and parted ways, already planning for this. We'd meet up for brunch tomorrow morning.

I walked towards the sound of my name, getting about five feet before I was brutally attacked with the smell of roses as Selina wrapped me in a hug. She pressed a quick kiss to my cheek, uncharacteristically excited, "you did so well _minou_! I'm so proud of you!"

I smiled, returning her hug in full force, " _merci maman_." She grinned at my use of French, turning around to take a bouquet of what looked to be sorrel and amaryllis out of Dick's hands, who grinned at me and mouthed a quick ' _good job_ '. A swell of affection curled in my chest, both at him and the flowers. I looked up at Selina, "parental affection and pride?"

She nodded and Alfred piped up from where he was standing, "it was a beautiful performance, Miss Williams."

"Thank you, Alfred, and _Arabella_." I stilled suddenly, raising an eyebrow as I spotted a single stem of a strange white flower in the bouquet.

"Cardamine," Bruce said in a strange tone of voice, "it means paternal error."

It took a second for it to click but when it did I offered him a grin, throwing my arms around him, "apology accepted, I'm sorry too. But it's not really me you have to apologize to."

Taking my flowers from Selina, I grabbed Dick by the wrist, "we'll be right back, if we don't find Artemis and Wally they might kill each other."

We dashed off to the sound of Selina's protests, Dick slipping on a pair of sunglasses he had brought with him, smart boy. Spying Wally's distinctive ginger hair, we wove our way through the crowd, stopping dead just as the pair came into view.

I turned to Dick, "are they… laughing?"

"It would appear so," he mused, "I can't believe they're actually getting along."

"Should we just… leave them alone? So we don't spoil the moment?"

Before we could decide, Wally saw us, face lighting up, "hey!"

He waved us over and I cherished the delicious hiss of my skirt as we came towards them. Artemis was grinning, "that was actually really beautiful, you're an amazing dancer."

"Isn't she?" Rob said with an affectionate grin and I nudged him playfully.

Wally was ridiculously excited, "that part at the end! Where you spun in one spot for like a minute!"

He twirled his finger in the air for emphasis and I laughed, "that part _killed_ me, you have no idea how many times I fell over in rehearsals."

Artemis' eyebrows knit together, "so how much of that was hard? I don't know anything about dancing."

"Probably about sixty percent of it was difficult," I said slowly, pausing to think about it, "I wanted it to be a genuinely challenging, I didn't want to just get up there and flounce around for three songs and act like it was my best. So yeah, probably sixty percent actually hard moves with filler in between them."

"Either way it was freaking awesome!" Wally exclaimed, and I felt a rush of gratitude for him and everyone else in the pit of my stomach.

I looked over at Dick, cupping my hand over my face to whisper in his ear, "how much begging do you think we'd have to do to convince the parentals to let us go to Rosie's with these two?"

He rolled his eyes at this ridiculous method of communication, leaning over to whisper back, "barely any, all considered. Especially because Alfred's here, Selina might put up a fight though."

Nodding, I turned back to Wally and Artemis, "give us like five seconds and we'll be right back."

They looked confused but agreed and we dashed back to Bruce, Selina and Alfred, the trip made significantly easier now that some people had left the lobby. Skidding to a stop in front of them, I turned on my best puppy dog eyes, " _maman, figure du père, autre figure du père, combien tu m'aimes?_ "

Selina narrowed her eyes, "what do you want?"

"We were wondering if we could go to Rosie's with Wally and Artemis," Dick answered, taking off the sunglasses for the full pleading effect.

Selina shook her head, "I want you at home tonight."

I pouted a little, "you can shower me with love and compliments any day of the week, _please_?"

"Let them live a little Selina," Alfred said brightly, giving us a conspiratorial wink, "they're teenagers after all."

She sighed, "I suppose, but I want you to take a cab home together, and don't stay out too late."

She turned to Bruce with an unsaid ' _anything to add?_ ' and he shrugged, "be safe."

We thanked them profusely, running back to Artemis and Wally, and when we got back they were doing the civil flirting thing again. Had we travelled to some sort of parallel dimension where they knew how to express their weird tension in healthy ways? Usually at this point they'd be glaring at each other and making snarky comments. "You guys coming?" I asked, heading for the door.

"You didn't say we were going anywhere," Artemis pointed out, the two of them following us to the door nonetheless.

"We're going to Rosie's," Dick informed them, hailing a cab with practiced ease.

Her eyes lit up, "is that the place with the really good chocolate milkshakes?"

I grinned, "it is indeed."

* * *

We eventually settled into a booth at Rosie's, Wally and Artemis looking fairly normal on one side and Dick and I looking absolutely ridiculous on the other. I had an assorted bouquet on my lap and was wearing a dance costume, in full stage makeup complete with fake eyelashes and he was wearing sunglasses indoors at ten o'clock at night.

A surprisingly perky waitress approached the table with a handful of menus and I had the impulse to capture this bizarre and beautiful moment forever. Patiently waiting for her to run through the little spiel she was forced to do, I held out my phone, "do you mind taking a photo of us?"

She smiled, taking my phone and backing up a bit, and despite Artemis' grumbling, we all pressed together and grinned. The telltale fake click came from my phone and she handed it back to me, chuckling under her breath. I had to admit it was a funny picture, what with the stark divide between the two sides of the table and our facial expressions. Artemis looked slightly uncomfortable as Wally flung an arm around her, and Dick and I were looking at them out of the corner of our eyes, identical smiles on our faces. I showed it to the table and we burst into laughter, and I sent it to the three of them without being asked.

A sudden idea grabbing me, I propped up my menu and stole Wally's, who was across from me on the outside of the booth, "menu fort!"

Laughing, we arranged our menus to hide the outside world and it was only when I found myself rubbing my sore cheeks that I realized I had been smiling since I had walked offstage.

* * *

 **I FINALLY WROTE JESSI'S RECITAL!**

 **This chapter is pretty much entirely about it, but I really wanted to put emphasis on it because dancing is a really huge part of Arabella's life, like any dancer. I don't actually know much about how recitals work, given that the only time I've ever danced was when I was a little kid and did ballet but I did some research (the sheer amount of time I've spent researching for this story is ridiculous) and I do sing and act, so it isn't much of a stretch of the imagination to try and write something like this. Plus Jessi attends a private music school and they tend to vary widely in terms of how they do recitals and whatnot, but if any of you dance drop me a review and tell me how I did.**

 **While you're at it, tell me how I did on the dancing itself. I don't actually know much about dancing in terms of the movements, so I tried to make it more of an emotional thing, but I must have spent a solid two hours watching contemporary/lyrical/ballet dance videos on YouTube, god help me. I got the inspiration for Arabella's little leg lift/spinning thing from a lyrical performance by Grecia Cruz to Piece by Piece by Kelly Clarkson, go check that out on YouTube it's actually really amazing.**

 **Arabella and Selina are speaking French! I have a headcanon that was previously mentioned that Selina's obsessed with all things French, and she and Arabella might speak in it in bits and pieces throughout this whole affair, and Arabella mostly uses it when she's trying to butter Selina up (and observant readers may notice Arabella only refers to Selina as mom in French, in English she's just Selina). Bless the Canadian school system, I actually speak the language so hopefully it's not too atrocious but here's the translations for what they were saying:**

 **" _Minou_ " means kitten, and it's a term of endearment Selina calls Arabella constantly (please note that _minou_ can mean something completely different in a different context, let's just say the French refer to female genitalia in a very similar way to the English)**

 **" _Merci maman_ " is another pretty simple phrase, it just means thanks mom/mama, _maman_ is the informal way of say mother, as opposed to _mère_. **

**" _Maman, figure du père, autre figure du père, combien tu m'aimes?_ ", means "mama, father figure, other father figure, how much do you love me?" and it's basically Arabella being the little sassy little shit she is. **

**And that's it for the French, they also mention Victorian Flower Language, which is a whole other bag of worms that may or may not come up again later but please note for the time being that Selina and Arabella communicate in it.**

 **That's got to be the longest author's note I've ever written, but stay tuned for the next update on Sunday, I promise, and I'll see you next time!**


	12. Homefront

**GOTHAM**

 _ **September 22, 6:00 EST**_

* * *

"Miss Arabella, Master Richard, I do believe it's time to wake up."

Alfred's distinct voice cut through my sleepy haze and I groaned, reaching to bury my face in the blanket. When my hand met empty air, I blinked awake, realizing that I was in Dick's room, in the clothes I had been wearing last night, lying over top the covers next to the aforementioned boy. I sat up a little, yawning, "what time is it?"

Alfred sounded amused, "it's a little past six o'clock, Miss."

"Then why am I awake?" I said with narrowed eyes, lying back down in an attempt to go back to sleep.

Dick sat up next to me, "wait is it the twenty-second?"

"It is indeed, if you could wake up Miss Williams I'm in the middle of preparing breakfast. Your uniforms are hanging on the door, freshly pressed."

"Thank you Alfred," Dick said, and I stubbornly kept my eyes closed. As soon as the uniforms were mentioned I realized what day it was. This was so not happening. I received a gentle poke in the side, "up and at 'em Belle."

I just rolled to the other side of the bed, pressing my face into the pillows. Alfred chuckled lowly, "shall I fetch some ice water?"

"Nah, you know Belle she'll be up in a minute," Dick assured and I groaned again. There was the sound of Dick's door opening and closing and then the other side of the bed dipped down and I got another poke, "we have school, c'mon."

"Over my dead body," I murmured, burrowing deeper into the pillow, wondering if it was possible to suffocate myself.

Dick's signature laugh filled the room, "the sooner you get up the sooner you can have some coffee."

That got me to turn my head to the side and crack an eye open, "coffee?"

He nodded, a barely contained smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he tried to appear serious, "coffee, with all your weird sugar and cream."

I scoffed, finally sitting up crisscross on the bed, "okay Mister ' _I take my coffee as black as my soul_ '."

We laughed as I leaned forward to stretch out my back muscles, kneading my fists into the mattress. He shook his head, "do you make an attempt to do catlike things or is it just a part of your personality by now?"

I shrugged, swinging my feet over the edge of the bed to stand, "Selina's a terrible influence. Did we fall asleep here?"

"Must've, it was fun though," he walked to the door, "here do you want your uniform?"

We had participated in our yearly, last night before school tradition where we stayed up as long as possible in a last-ditch attempt to get the most out of our summer. The assorted playing cards and chips lying around told me we had been playing Poker before we passed out. We had an ongoing rivalry, stretching back to when Selina had taught us to play at ten so we could learn each other's tells. I took the hanger from him, shaking my head at it, "I swear the skirt length shrinks a quarter-inch each year. Do you remember anything past two AM by the way? I think we were playing poker."

"Not really, I think you fell asleep first though. You excited to start at the Academy proper?"

I scoffed, "if by excited you mean dreading the spoiled snots and general 'we're better than everyone else' atmosphere, then yes, yes I am."

"At least we're high schoolers, if only freshmen," he pointed out, making for the bathroom that adjoined his bedroom.

"You make a fair argument," I said, grabbing the duffel bag I kept here for days like these, "shower and meet back here to go down to breakfast?"

He made a noise of affirmation and I opened the door, heading across the hall to the guest room I usually occupied here, next to Selina's room when she stayed. They were the only two guest rooms in the same wing of the Manor as Dick, Bruce and Alfred's rooms, and according to Alfred it was built with the intention of housing family of the Waynes, and the other guest rooms were for people not related to Bruce and his ancestors by blood or marriage. I appreciated the sentiment, and when Alfred had mentioned it offhandedly to Selina, she _blushed_.

Dumping my bag on the conveniently located dresser, I grabbed whatever hygiene products were necessary and went about my morning. Pausing in front of the mirror after I was dressed, I took the time to braid my hair to the side in a fishtail, dab concealer over my dark circles and throw on a coat of mascara. Nodding at my reflection, I took the brown leather messenger bag I had prepared earlier in the week out of the closet and headed back across the hall.

Dick was already waiting outside his room, looking at something on his phone and he looked up at the sound of my door closing. I smiled, "ready to go?"

He nodded, "it's weird to see you without a ponytail," he said in a teasing voice.

"It's weird to see you with your hair gelled back," I teased back. It really was, his whole face kind of changed, probably because there wasn't a swath of black covering his forehead.

When we got to the kitchen Bruce was already there, drinking coffee and reading a newspaper. I beelined for the coffeepot, filling a mug and handing it off to Dick before I grabbed my own, dumping in cream and sugar. As we sat down Bruce looked up from his paper, "did you two have fun last night?"

I nodded with a mouthful of pancake, Dick answering for the both of us, "yeah, we fell asleep during a game of Poker. I was winning."

I whipped my head to the side, swallowing hastily, "you have no proof of that."

He shrugged, "I always win at Poker, you suck at bluffing."

"Only because you know all my tells," I muttered into my coffee, taking a large gulp of the god-given liquid.

Bruce looked at his watch, "if you two want to be on time you should leave soon, the traffic on the RK bridge is supposed to be bad this morning."

We ate as quickly as possible, getting the last of our things together in time for Alfred to pull the car around, and we were standing outside Gotham Academy within the hour.

There was a yell of excitement from my right and I was tackled from behind, Barbara's usual smell of strawberries and peony washing over me. I started laughing, turning around to return her hug. She detatched from me just long enough to pitch herself at Dick, and I realized just how much I had missed her, "miss us?"

"Yes!" she said, calming down now that she had attacked us, "I feel like I haven't seen you guys all summer."

A small knot of guilt made itself apparent in the pit of my stomach, she had a point. From Dick's face he was having a similar reaction, but he smiled at Babs anyway, "who do you want this year?"

She shook her head, "I don't know but if I get Mrs. Walsh for math again I'll fling myself out a window." She turned to me, "you're doing AP English aren't you? That means you're going to have Townsend," she said with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes, "I really don't know why everyone thinks he's so attractive."

"Are you kidding me?" she said, utterly appalled, "he's the definition of tall, dark and handsome."

"And he has a wife and two daughters he talks about twenty-four-seven," I pointed out, miming shooting something, "any and all attraction dead in the water."

"At least you'll have something nice to look at during class," she said, grabbing the both of us and pulling us towards the courtyard.

Suddenly Dick stopped dead, and I followed his line of vision to see a tall, olive-skinned girl with a long blonde ponytail who, as he tugged me to side to get a better look at her face, was undoubtedly Artemis. He looked back at me and I looked from her to him, back to her and then to him again, "is that?..."

"Babs hold on a minute," he called, and we dashed up to her and a girl who looked to be Bette Kane, Dick's camera already out. Popping over both her shoulders we grinned and Dick held the camera out, "we'll laugh about this someday."

The camera flashed and we took off back to Babs, going around one of the pillars so Artemis couldn't see us. She looked disoriented for a minute and then walked off, and we crept out from behind the pillar. Babs narrowed her eyes, "what was that about?"

"Nothing Barbara," Dick said, laughing slightly, "just being friendly to the new girl."

I nudged him in the side, "send that to me."

He nodded, and the bell rang for class. By the grace of some god Dick and I were in the same homeroom, and as soon as we got our schedules we started comparing. Lunch was the same for everyone at the Academy so we didn't have to worry about that, but considering we were taking such different tracks we only had Ethics and Philosophy, Biology, and PE together.

English was my first course on this day of the cycle, and when I got there Townsend was leaning against his desk, instructing everyone to pick their own seats. Mr. Townsend was a school favorite, easygoing with very few rules and ridiculously attractive for a man over the age of thirty-five. I nabbed a window seat, settling down just as Evangeline Montgomery and her posse of rich idiots approached.

She gave me a sickeningly sweet smile, "Arabella, it's been so long. I'm going to need you to move."

I raised an eyebrow, "and for what reason, Evangeline?"

"Do you see my hair?" she asked, flicking it over her shoulder, "over the summer I got some natural highlights, and when I sit in the sun it makes me look angelic. There's a junior over there I'm trying to impress, and you're sitting where the most sunlight hits the room so I'm going to need you to get up."

"Do you see my face?" I said in the exact same tone she had, "this is the expression I have when I give no fucks. Go sit somewhere else." She scowled, opening her mouth to say something when Artemis Crock wandered into the classroom, wary and vaguely uncomfortable looking, and I nearly choked on my own spit.

I hadn't really thought about this, AP classes were comprised of more than one grade at Gotham Academy, and I hadn't even considered that Artemis might share a class with me. From the way she stood you could tell she was new, and Evangeline and her little group of furies were sizing her up, switching their focus to easier prey. I pasted on a bright smile, "Artemis!"

Her head whipped to the side, eyes widening as she realized it was me calling her name, "Arabella?" I waved, indicating for her to come sit with me and while she did I stared down Evangeline, hoping she would leave Artemis alone now that she knew we were friends. Luckily enough, she pouted and walked off towards the back of the class, making sure to stare daggers at me as she went. As soon as Artemis sat down she leaned in to talk to me quietly, "what the hell are you doing here?"

"This is _my_ school, better question, what are you doing here?" I asked, turning around in my seat to face her completely.

She shook her head, "I got a scholarship and my mom practically begged me to take it. It sucks here, by the way."

"Oh I am completely aware, see that girl at the back wearing a headband?"

Smart as she was, she looked at the window reflection instead of turning around, "what about her?"

I lowered my voice, "that's Evangeline Montgomery, she's the alpha bitch of my grade. She started sizing you up as soon as you came in, if she starts trying to talk to you, tell her to fuck off, you're completely in the right as a sophomore."

She narrowed her eyes, "what's up with that? My tour guide spent like five seconds on the pecking order here."

"We're a seventh to twelfth grade school," I explained, "basically anyone who isn't a freshman are our slaves, because they're technically not a part of the school. They belong to the Academy's middle school, have their own sports teams and mascot. It's the same kind of deal with the high schoolers, where the older you are the more privileges you have. She's a freshman, so if you told her to fuck off she couldn't do anything about it and she'd do what she's told, but if she told you to fuck off she'd be ostracized by the sophomores. The only benefit of becoming a freshman is that people can't tell you to do stuff for them anymore."

"Wait, what do you guys make the middle schoolers do?"

"Nothing terrible, if you're at your locker you can ask one to fill up your water bottle, stuff like that."

"Okay," she said slowly, "how do you tell if someone's older than you?"

"Crests," I said, tapping the sewn-on symbol over my heart, "see how mine has one little dot next to it? It's technically not in the school handbook, but the people who make the uniforms add a dot for every year, look you have two, and that junior has three," I pointed to a guy a few seats away.

She shook her head, "this is the most confusing, bullshit thing ever."

I nodded sympathetically, "that's the bare bones of it too, then you get into the different people in each grade who are considered the heads of them, like Evangeline over there, and if someone from a lower grade is considered cool enough people from the grade above respect them, but I don't adhere much to the details anyway."

"That's the way I'm going about it," she muttered, and as Townsend walked over to the board the room quieted. I turned back around in my seat as he uncapped a whiteboard marker, peering to see what he was writing. He stepped away from the board, "This, is ancient Greek. Since I'm assuming very few of you can read ancient Greek, I'll explain. This word is translated as menin, or menis, and it means wrath, or anger, or rage, you get the picture. It's the first word of The Iliad, and thus very important. This first word, before even invoking a muse, sets the tone for the whole of the epic. It's about anger, the wrath of Achilles. To give all this a point, this first day of classes is similar, it sets the tone for the school year. I don't have many rules, but I expect the ones I do have to be followed…"

I parted ways with Artemis after English, but now that it was lunch and I was on the way to meet Dick and Babs, I considered trying to find her. I had her phone number after all, but if she met Dick without some sort of disguise, she might figure out his identity. And while I was willing to tell her mine, exposing someone else's was considered Ultimate Betrayal in superhero circles.

Biting down on my guilt, I trusted that she had managed to be social enough to find a group of people to sit with and made for the magnolia tree we always sat underneath at lunch. I was halfway to it when someone called my name in a distinctively British voice, and I turned with a sigh to see Will striding towards me. It occurred to me that I didn't actually know how much older Will was than Jessi and I, but the two dots on his blazer told me he was only fifteen. He grinned, "I was convinced I was dreaming when I saw you, but there you are, flesh and blood."

I raised an eyebrow, "did you need something?" I couldn't shade him directly, given that he was a sophomore, but I didn't really feel like dealing with him at the moment.

"I just caught sight of you and came over. Do you have a place to go, or would you like to spend lunch with me?"

I shook my head, "I have people waiting on me."

"Leave 'em," he said with a playful tone, "c'mon I'll introduce you to my mates."

I found the concept was actually kind of appealing, Will could be annoying but he was usually fun. I enjoyed our rapport, and if I got to see Jessi in it all that sounded good to me too. Dick and Babs took precedent though, "sorry, duty calls, send my regrets to your 'mates'."

He laughed, "why do I always find myself saying 'next time' with you?"

"I am a rare and elusive creature," I said jokingly, turning to walk away.

As I did, Will shouted from behind me, "that you are love!"

I laughed, weaving through the crowds of students dotting the lawn until I spotted our tree, Dick and Babs sitting at the base, laughing about something. A slow smile stretched across my face and I approached slowly, coming up behind Babs while holding a finger to my lips. Dick seemed to catch the hint, pretending not to notice me, and I got right up behind her to whisper in her ear, " _boo_!"

She slapped a hand to her mouth to stifle a yell, jumping ten feet in the air. Dick and I burst into laughter as she whipped around, "you two are the _worst_!"

We only laughed harder and I tried to apologize between giggles, "sorry… but your reaction was too good to pass up."

She flopped back down in a huff and I sat comfortably in my usual spot leaning against the trunk of our tree. Dick extended a granola bar, "here, how was your morning?"

I took it from him gratefully, "thank you kind sir, and not too bad. I just bumped into Will on the way here."

Barbara narrowed her eyes, "Will who?"

Blinking, I realized Babs had yet to be properly caught up on the Will situation. I shrugged, "long story short, that performance I did like a week ago? The girl I did it for has an older brother who's kind of a lovable asshole."

Dick raised an eyebrow, "when did he go from insufferable douchebag to a lovable asshole?"

"Key word being _asshole_ ," I said, waving my granola bar at him. Suddenly I remembered this morning, "oh and I had a run-in with the always delightful Evangeline Montgomery during English, and a friend."

I cast my eyes to Dick's as I finished my sentence and he gave me the tiniest of nods to let me know he got the message. Babs groaned, "Evangeline? God, she's the gift that just keeps giving. But who's your friend?"

"No one," I said with a shake of my head, "just a friend."

She grinned, "who knew you had friends outside of the two of us?"

"Hey!" I yelped with semi-fake indignation, "I will have you know I have _plenty_ of friends."

Her smile only got wider as she spoke in a singsong voice, "oh really?"

I got to my feet, chasing her around the base of the tree while Dick laughed, and I couldn't help thinking that maybe school wasn't as bad as I thought.

* * *

 **GOTHAM**

 _ **September 22, 18:43 EST**_

* * *

Having stared down the pile of homework I had been assigned on the _first day back_ , I decided school was definitely as bad as I thought, if not worse. Three hours later however, Dick and I were suited up and on our way to the Cave. At least that's what I thought we were doing up until Dick dragged me to the fire escape located just above our Zeta Port to wait for Artemis. Twenty minutes of waiting in the autumn cold had made me an unhappy camper, "Rob this is ridiculous."

"Shh," he whispered, "she has to come at some point, we all agreed to go to the Cave tonight. And when she gets here, we'll surprise her, throw her off her guard and question her. She gives me a bad feeling, I don't think she's who she says she is." I silently cursed Dick's intuition as someone with a familiar gait approached and Artemis' distinctive smell of green apple and almonds curled through the alley, tinged with the tea she must have drank before she came here. Dick dropped down and I followed, landing softly in the dim quiet just behind the run-down phone booth that served as our Zeta Port. Dick stepped out from behind the booth with a big smile, voice all happy surprise, " _Artemis_?"

She gasped, eyes widening in shock and stepped out too, hoping my presence would calm her. She looked back and forth between us, "Robin, Cat, I- uh…"

"How random that you're in Gotham City," he said, not nearly as slick as he thought he sounded, "instead of _Star_ City, _where your uncle Green Arrow lives?_ "

"I'm, uh, here to see my cousin!" she said, hand coming to scratch the back of her neck. "She… was in the state spelling bee. Here. In Gotham. City."

I resisted the urge to facepalm. She was a terrible liar, and I noted neck scratching as one of her tells. Not to mention Dick was being as conspicuous about his questioning as humanly possible, Artemis wasn't an idiot, she'd figure out he was on to her. He grinned mischievously, "C-O-O-L. Did she W-I-N?"

Artemis narrowed her eyes, "N-O."

"D-R-A-G," Rob said, and after a moment of terribly awkward silence Artemis turned to the phone booth.

"Yeah, let's just go to the Cave," and the look she sent my way told me I was going to be thoroughly questioned about this later.

I nodded, "sounds like a good idea to me."

Rob mock-bowed towards the booth, "ladies first."

"Your town, _you_ go," Artemis said, hands on her hips.

I rolled my eyes, "I will satisfy both of your demands."

Stepping into the booth, Glados' voice rung out around me, "recognized, Catgirl, B02."

Blinding golden light bloomed around me and once all my atoms were safely reorganized on the other side, I was in one of the Cave's tubes with the smell of something burning in my nose. M'gann had to have been baking again, knowing her, she and Superboy had gone to ' _work on his bike_ ' (which I still had yet to question her about), and she had forgotten all about them. But when I walked into the room, it obviously wasn't M'gann's forgetfulness because there were clouds of smoke _everywhere_.

A sharp crackling sound approached, and as the smoke lit up I dove out of the way, just barely dodging a fireball. Rob appeared behind me in a flash of light, face turning serious as he took in the scene and I grabbed his hand, running into the smoke without waiting to explain. Another fireball launched at us, and I coughed, "what the hell is happening?"

"No clue!" he shouted, launching a few explosive birdarangs in the general direction of where the fire was coming from. Another ball of it whizzed past our heads as a telltale flash of golden light indicated Artemis had arrived. I turned back to try and see her but the smoke was too thick, and Rob shouted out behind us, "get down!"

We jumped to a space where the smoke had cleared, landing beside the girl in question. Another ball of flame shot out at us and we rolled in three separate directions, coughing. Artemis drew her bow and Rob grabbed more birdarangs, and as the only member of our merry little band without a long-distance weapon I was starting to feel useless. Artemis nocked an arrow, shouting out to us, " _who_ are we fighting?"

"Don't know," Rob panted, "but we're sitting ducks by these tubes. Head for the exit!" We followed his lead, running straight for the quickest way out of the Cave. We came to a skidding stop as a wall of water crashed towards us, "or not," Rob muttered as we tore off in the opposite direction. The water was too fast, and the wave hit us like a ton of bricks, slamming the three of us into a nearby wall much to the chagrin of my spine.

Rising as quickly as possible, we ran off towards the exercise room, dodging fireballs as our feet slapped against the now-wet floor. I rolled out of the way of a particularly close one, panting heavily, "how the hell did these people even get in here? The Cave is a secret!"

"Technically not," Rob called back, "hiding in plain sight, remember?"

" _Oh_ ," I snarled sarcastically, "so these guys just happened to be bouncing around known League locations in the hopes they'd find someone to whale on?"

" _Guys_ ," Artemis hissed, "not the time!"

Rob pressed a hand to his comm, "Robin to Team, come in, Aqualad?"

I followed suit, instead lowering my mental barriers in search of M'gann's mind, and by the look of concentration on Artemis' face she was doing the same. Thanks to the exercises M'gann was having me do after Bialya, I could tell she was here, but I didn't know where she was or what state she was in, but the feeble presence of her mind wasn't relieving.

The door exploded behind us and the shock sent me flying onto my stomach, followed swiftly by Rob and Artemis. My ribs ached as we ran for our lives, a straight-up tornado of fire chasing us through the room. Turning the corner, we ran into the locker room, headed towards the showers. Rob held a hand to his ear again as we raced to turn on all the showerheads, "Robin to Batcave, override R-G-four, keep calling Justice League, H-O-J-slash-Watchtower, B-zero-one, priority red!" He paused, waiting for a response, and when he shook his head I found myself even more terrified, "comm is down, blocked. At least the water's helping."

The room began to groan, and suddenly all the taps and showerheads burst off the walls, tiles hitting the floor with a smash. I ducked, grabbing them both by the collar to follow me to the ground, "you were _saying_?"

"Or not," he said with a nod, and water began to fill the room in a way I was pretty sure defied the laws of physics.

"You seem to be saying that a lot lately!" Artemis choked out as the water went over our heads, and I was starting to have some flashbacks to my time spent in Joker's tank. Panic filled every inch of my body and I tried desperately to remain calm as Rob blew a hole in the wall with a birdarang.

The water exploded out of the room, taking us with it and leaving us on the floor, gasping for air. With barely any time to recover, we picked ourselves up and ran into the kitchen. Pausing in the doorframe, Rob shook his head, "we need to get lost."

We scanned the room desperately, and Artemis' eyes lit up, "the air vent!"

"Good, go!" Rob directed, and we raced over to the rangehood as he turned to a nearby terminal, already three steps ahead of wherever I was in all this mess. Artemis stepped back as I pried my claws underneath the sides of the grate covering the vent entrance, ripping it off.

She turned back to Rob as I lowered the grate, "what are you-"

He cut her off, "downloading Cave blueprints, could come in-" he paused as the sound of strangely metallic footsteps hit the hall, voice lowered to a whisper, "go, go!" Artemis dove into the vents, and I waited for Rob to climb up before following them in, replacing the grate as we crawled further into the Cave's ventilation system. I brought up the rear as Rob whisper-yelled directions to Artemis, trying to keep an ear out for our attackers. A sudden noise behind us prompted me to shove Rob, practically landing on top of them both as a column of fire shot through the shaft we had been previously crawling through. "Too close," he said panting, "take the first right, there should be a vent cover right in front of you."

Artemis pulled it off and then disappeared, the hiss of her bow scraping against the metal of the shaft indicating she was sliding downwards. We followed her descent, landing on a set of metal stairs in what looked to be a boiler room. I blinked, "you guys okay?"

They nodded and Rob pulled up his map again, taking off down the stairs, "this way!"

We all turned at a sudden crash, and behind us was what appeared to be a bald woman with some really strange proportions standing in the middle of a ball of flame. She raised her arms, fire jumping even higher and I wheeled around, pushing Artemis and Robin ahead of me, "oh _fuck_ no."

We jumped over the railing, landing amidst the machines lining the floor of the room. Which were now emitting a loud blaring noise. And had green gauges that were turning red. And those gauges were cracking. "That's not good," Rob said slowly, and we tore around the corner as hot steam billowed out of the pipes behind us. More fireballs hot on our heels, we ducked into another hiding place, Rob pulling the map up again, "I know that other access tunnel is here somewhere."

"You mean this one?" Artemis called, already disappearing down the hole.

Rob stuck an explosive to the nearest surface and I slipped around behind him, "get ahead of me!"

He stopped dead, "what? No!"

I shook my head, "are we seriously arguing about this right now? That thing's about to blow up in like, two seconds, _get ahead of me!_ "

He listened for once, jumping down and I just barely felt the shock of the explosion as I followed suit, hitting the floor of the tunnel and crawling on my hands and knees after the two of them. Rob paused in front of something on the wall, "hold on." He pried off the cover of it, revealing USB ports and plugged in his holo-computer, "locking out Cave's motion and heat sensors to prevent the enemy from tracking us."

"And I ask again," Artemis hissed, " _who_ is the the enemy?"

"Let's find out," Dick said, confident smile once again adorning his face, "downloading Cave's security footage, _there_!"

He paused on an image of the rest of the Team, M'gann and Superboy standing off to the side while Wally fiddled with Connor's motorcycle, Kaldur approaching them. As the video began to play, Wally's voice floated through the tunnel, "torque wrench." M'gann floated it to him and he smiled up at her, "thank you green-cheeks!"

I gagged, "A, terrible nickname, B, when is he going realize M'gann and Connor are a thing?"

"Never," Artemis said darkly, and Dick made his ' _I'm not going to touch that with a ten-foot pole_ ' face and kept playing the video.

Kaldur stopped in front of them, "I have been meaning to ask, any problems juggling schoolwork with your responsibilities here?"

"No," Connor said frankly, and Wally peered up from behind the bike.

"Juggling's just _one_ of my many talents," he bragged, voice evening out as he looked back down at the machine, "socket wrench."

M'gann telekinetically handed it to him as she spoke to Kaldur, "cheerleading practice _has_ presented a challenge," she whipped around to face the Atlantean, "oh- but my first loyalty is _always_ to the Team." She seemed to catch herself again, " _this_ team, not the Bumblebees."

"Artemis starts school today," Kaldur said, voice strangely arrhythmic, "do you think _she_ will have trouble maintaining her loyalties?"

Artemis' eyes narrowed and my jaw dropped, utterly offended on her behalf, " _Kaldur'ahm_."

Rob glanced over at me, "you know he can't actually hear you, right?"

"Nah she'll manage alright," Wally said confidently, standing up from the bike, "I mean, how much more hostile and annoying can she-" he was cut off by a loud explosion from behind, the walls crumbling across the screen and cutting out the security footage.

"What happened?" Artemis said, eyes wide and obviously stricken.

"Explosion took out the camera, I'll find another angle," Rob said, fingers flying across his holographic keyboard. A second angle showed the water from the hangar bay rising up and flinging itself at them, taking out the camera with it, the third and fourth lasting long enough to watch the Team run away before being cut out. "That's it," Robin said lowly, "all four are dead." Artemis' eyes flew even wider open, a mixture of grief and surprise on her face. Rob turned to her, "the cameras! I meant the cameras. I- I'm sure the others are okay." I curled a hand around his shoulder, he sounded more like he was convincing himself more than convincing her. He started to type again as Artemis wrapped her arms around herself and leaned back against the wall, "just give me a sec to find the fastest route to the hangar."

"Yeah," Artemis said, panic evident in her voice, "they've all got superpowers, they can handle anything."

I turned to look at her, "and so can we."

She looked at me with wild eyes, "really? Because I'm starting to have my doubts."

"Hey," I said, staring her dead in the eyes, "we're kickass superheroes with advanced martial arts training and pointy objects, we're going to be fine. You can't lose your cool."

She tore her gaze from mine, "I _am_ cool, never cooler."

I exchanged a glance with Rob. I didn't know how many high pressure situations Artemis had been in before, but from what she had told me she had spent the majority of her life the same way I had spent the most of mine, in survival mode. She had probably never been in a life-or-death situation she couldn't cut and run from before, never had stakes in who survived, and it was throwing her off.

Rob's computer beeped and he looked up, "okay, let's go!"

We followed his map to a vent opening that when cracked open, revealed the library. Dropping down, Rob ran ahead of us, "there's a secret passage behind one of these bookcases."

"Seriously?" Artemis hissed, "cliché much?"

"You should see the Batcave," he muttered, and I had to agree. Every secret passageway and hidey-hole in this place was no doubt Bruce's idea. A door clicked open behind us and we whipped around, each of us grabbing for a weapon, but I didn't know how well my whip would function in a fight like this.

Seeing no one, we darted behind a bookcase, listening for the sound of footsteps. I found myself wracking my brain for villains that I knew of that could control water and fire. There was no one I could think of that could control both, which meant this had to be a team-up, but who were they and what the hell was their endgame? Tommy hadn't mentioned anything like this during our last monthly, ' _what's on the go in the criminal underworld_ ' meeting.

Those metallic footsteps approached again and I couldn't help but wonder what the hell they were wearing on their feet. The footsteps stopped, and the voice of an android spoke, "Artemis, Robin, Ca-"

Artemis raced forward, "it's Red Tornado!"

I desperately grasped for her arm, missing her by a hair, "Artemis, no! That makes no-"

I was cut off by the sound of her gasp, and as I just caught sight of a large red android, Rob tackled the both of us to the ground, rolling underneath a nearby table, "yes on the Red, no on the Tornado!"

The android slammed his fist into the table, breaking it into little pieces as we took off towards the hangar. A second android, the woman we saw earlier, stepped out to block our way, hands stretched towards us. Ducking to the right, I sent up a silent prayer for all the books that were sure to be ruined by the end of this. We jumped, running along the tops of the bookcases and Artemis called out from ahead of me, "what are they? How did you know it wasn't RT?"

I jumped to the next case, "deduction, if it was Red why did we hear the same footsteps earlier when we were on the verge of being burnt alive, and how would he know exactly who was in the library? _They_ know because they saw the others in the hangar, we're the only ones missing!"

"That still doesn't explain what they are!" she shouted as Rob and I landed on the floor, nocking another arrow and sending it flying towards the androids as the library's sprinkler system kicked in.

Something must've happened on their end because the bookcases started falling like dominos and I whipped around to face Rob, "not to put you under any kind of pressure but if you could _find that book_ -"

He pulled on one, the entrance sliding open, and we tumbled in just as the last bookcase came toppling down on us. Running down the hallway for our lives, Artemis spoke from behind me, "did you know Tornado had… siblings?"

"No," Rob answered, cape flying out behind him as he ran, and as he rounded a corner Artemis grabbed his wrist.

"So now what?" she asked frantically, "Red Tornado is one of the powerhouses of the League. How are we supposed to take down _two_ of him?"

"They do seem pretty user-unfriendly," Rob said facetiously.

"Don't joke," Artemis hissed, "they-"

She was cut off mid-rant by Red-whatever-the-fuck's voice over the PA system, "attention Robin, attention Artemis, attention Catgirl, you have exactly ten minutes to surrender, or the lives of your teammates will be extinguished." We all stared at each other, wide-eyed, what the hell did we do? Red's voice came back on, "nine minutes and forty-five seconds."

I tightened my ponytail, "we need to know their endgame. What do they want us for? As hostages? For information?"

"That's not important," Artemis said feverishly, "what's important is that if we don't stop them in nine and a half minutes, everyone's going to die!"

"The clock is something we have to deal with," Rob admitted, "but Cat has a point, if we know what they want us for, we might be able to find their weakness, or even if they're bluffing about killing the rest of the Team. Either way, we have to get to the hangar to case the situation, let's go." He took off down the hall and we followed him, Red's voice ominously announcing how much time we had left every fifteen seconds. At the eight minute mark we came to a doorway and Rob paused, "we can access the hangar from here!" Stumbling back as a wave of water crashed through the door and approached, he shook his head, "or not."

Artemis grabbed our wrists and took off, " _will_ you _please_ stop saying that!"

The water plowed straight into us, filling the tunnel and drawing the air from my lungs. Rob ditched his cape, placing what looked like a rebreather in his mouth. He handed it off to Artemis, who took a breath and handed it off to me, right before a red metal hand wrapped itself around my ankle.

I spun around, the guy android's face inches away from me. Happy for some close contact at last, as Artemis made a noise of alarm, I jabbed my claws into his eye, forcing him to let go. A hand wrapped itself around my arm, and I looked up to see that we had formed a little chain, Rob grappling us up and out of the water.

We surfaced, gasping for air and Wally's voice echoed through the room, "look out!"

We swam out of the way just in time to miss a fireball, diving underwater and resurfacing next to Wally and Connor, who were encased in some kind of metal that had warped into the shape of coral, holding them underwater. Rob turned to them, "you guys okay?"

"Forget us!" Connor cried out, "help M'gann!"

I followed his line of sight to see what looked like a cage of fire, holding Kaldur and M'gann inside, the martian draped over his lap, unmoving.

"Aqualad!" Artemis called, voice grief-stricken, "is she-"

He spoke quickly, obviously under duress, "she is unconscious. I fear she- _we_ cannot survive much longer."

Red Bitch swooped down at us, firing again and we dove underwater, swimming towards the staircase that lead to dry land. Sucking in air as we resurfaced, we dashed up the staircase, the guy android in hot pursuit, eye still sparking from where I gouged it out. We backed away from him, placing our backs together as the girl android landed at the top of the stairs. Artemis turned to speak to us, "I'm almost out of arrows!"

"Distract her, now!" Rob ordered, dashing towards Water Android, and Artemis let an explosive arrow fly at the other one. I watched as a birdarang Rob threw bounced off the android, redirecting and nearly taking Wally's ear off. Both androids launched attacks at the same time, and the three of us jumped over the side as the opposing forces met.

Swimming over to a nearby grate, we opened it up and swam through it, ascending to open air where we all took a second to haul ourselves up into the tunnel and breathe. Dude Android's voice echoed through the Cave, "six minutes."

"What do we do now?" Artemis asked, panicked and shaking.

"We save them," Rob said stoically, "that's how it works."

"Maybe that's how it's _supposed_ to work," she raved, "but those robots already took out our four, _superpowered_ , friends."

"You seem distraught," Rob noted.

" _Distraught_?" she practically screeched, "M'gann is _dying_ , we have no powers, and I'm down to my last arrow, _of course I'm distraught_!"

"Well get _traught_ , or get _dead_ ," Rob lashed out, turning around to crawl through the tunnel.

"How can the two of you be so calm?" she demanded, following us down the shaft.

"Practice," Rob said, "I've been doing this since I was nine, Cat since she was ten."

"What good is that now? What chance do we have against unrelenting machines?"

"Oh, duh!" Rob murmured, stopping in his tracks, "they're machines, and one electromagnetic pulse will shut down any machine within range."

I felt my face light up, "Robin, you're brilliant!"

"Great!" Artemis said with fake enthusiasm, "except you better have an EMP emitter in your utility belt, because I _know_ I don't have one in my quiver!"

"I'm fresh out," Rob said with a grin, "but I'm bettin' we can make one." He raised a hand to his ear, "what do you say KF, doable?"

I blinked, the birdarang that had nearly hit Wally hadn't exploded. Which meant it had a communicator in it. Rob had _intended_ for it to bounce off the android. I shook my head, he surprised me with his sheer tactical genius to this day. Kid's voice bloomed out of Rob's wrist, "totally doable! Y'know, if you had more time."

"We've pulled miracles out of thin air before, haven't we Cat?" Rob said with a grin.

I nodded, "well there was Bangkok-"

He stuck his hand out to cut me off, "what happens in Bangkok stays in Bangkok, remember?"

"Guys?" Wally said from the comm, " _so_ not the time."

KF directed us to the medbay, "medlab, X-Ray machine." We dashed over to it and Rob gestured for me to pry off the outside while Kid talked, "you'll find a small vacuum tube called a vircator. That converts high-energy pulses. Reprogram the unit's microwave conversion from X-Rays to EMPs, with a cascading energy vector directing outward."

"A ripple effect," Rob said slowly, "like dropping a stone in a pond."

"A stone with ten to the twelfth power wattage, yeah."

"So I'll need to hook it up to the Cave's main generator," Rob said, blueprints flashing in front of us from his holo-computer.

"Which is… where?" Artemis asked.

He turned to face us, "the middle of the hangar."

I felt the blood drain from my face, "oh hell the fuck no."

He shook his head, "Cat there's no point in arguing over it, we don't have the time to waste. I'm doing it, final decision, let's go."

I moved my mouth but no words came out, and Rob was already walking back towards the shaft. I clambered in after him and Artemis, muttering to myself, "stupid fucking heroes and their lack of regard for their own lives."

"If you want to talk about martyr complexes I have so much ammo to throw at you, Miss ' _let's see how many hits I can take for other people until I die_ '," Rob called from the front, and I scowled because he had a point, however stupid that point may be.

We dropped down into the hallway we had been trying to use before, flattening ourselves against the wall. Rob held a hand up to his comm, "okay, make with the distraction."

Wally's voice echoed from the hangar, "hey! Red Tomato! Who's your girlfriend, Red Onion?"

"Yeah!" Connor called out after him, "and by the way, worst deathtrap _ever_. We can escape any time we want!"

"I can vibrate my molecules out of here before your _binary brains_ can count to two!" Wally jeered as we dashed across the hangar exit.

The boys kept flinging insults as Rob attached a wire to the wall, "cover me."

Artemis nocked an arrow and I looked back at Dick. His hair had fallen into 90's TV star-esque points, and I brushed it back with a careful hand, "be careful."

He grinned, "always."

And then he was gone, swooping down and over to the generator, vircator in hand. I resisted the urge to bite my nails, keeping an eye out for incoming attacks. With almost no warning, the androids spotted him, a wave of water rising up from the bay. Artemis and I screamed in unison, " _Robin look out!_ "

He looked up only to be engulfed by the tsunami, and as Artemis drew back her arrow, a fireball coming our way knocked us backwards and made her miss. Reaching back for another, her scared eyes met mine when she realized her quiver was empty. I grabbed her arm, taking off back towards the air vent. Diving inside, we clambered down a few feet and narrowly rolled out of the way of a stream of fire, flopping down on our stomachs. Artemis crawled to the side, peering through a large crack in the tunnel and I came to her side, the view revealing what was going on in the hangar.

Rob was being lifted up in a column of water, suspended in it with no way to breathe, mouth wide open. I blinked, flashes of a deep burning in my chest and a black tinged vision reminding me of my recent near-death experience via drowning. Artemis reeled back, curling into herself, "no, no, no, no, no."

I focused, Artemis was falling apart which meant I didn't have the luxury to. I grabbed both sides of her face, "Artemis, Artemis I need you to listen to me."

She looked me in the eye, "they're all going to die, we're all going to die."

"No," I said, shaking my head, "remember what Rob said? We need something metal to complete the circuit, and then we'll knock out those androids and everyone will be fine."

"You _saw_ Rob!" she said hysterically, "he could be _dead_."

"I know," I murmured, "which is why you're going to go, get something metal and come back to finish the circuit, and I'm going to go back there and do what I can."

"You can't," she begged, "no, you can't, you'll get captured too, and I'll have the whole Team's blood on my hands."

"Artemis," I said slowly, "no matter what happens tonight, none of this, and I mean _none_ of this was your fault. Now go and get something metal, anything, a spoon from the freaking kitchen, but go!"

She nodded, taking off down the tunnel and I turned back around, the flames having died down, and climbed out of the vent. I held my hands up as I approached the platform, lowering my head in my best interpretation of shame. The guy android approached, "Catgirl, do you surrender?"

I nodded somberly, "I do, you win."

Wally called out from the water, "Cat, no!"

I walked a little ways forwards, coming within fighting distance of the android, lifting my head slowly. He looked about as relaxed as an android could be, already turning to make an announcement to Artemis. My head snapped up and I ran forwards, running up his back and hooking my leg around his neck, sending him crashing to the ground.

Jumping up, I ran for the woman, dodging fireballs as I made my way towards her. I reared back, aiming a punch for her gut but she grabbed me by the claws, lighting her hand on fire. I laughed, "lady these are made of pure titanium, sharpened to cut steel. You're going to have to try harder." I used her grip on me to gain momentum, running up her body and kicking her beneath the chin as I flipped off and away from her. Her head swiveled around in a 180, and while she focused on bringing it back around to the front, I focused on her brother.

Slashing a gaping hole in his chest, I ducked as he threw a stream of water at me. From what I could tell, as I was keeping them busy the water level around Wally and Connor's necks seemed to lower, as well as the intensity of the cage around M'gann and Kaldur, who were both laying in a heap on the floor. This was good, if I could distract them until Artemis got back with the metal, we could do this.

I gasped as a tendril of water curled itself around my ankle, the android having forced me back towards the water's edge without my noticing. In seconds I was enveloped. Feeling around for it in my utility belt, I grabbed Rob's rebreather from earlier, guilt wracking me as I realized he couldn't use it earlier because I had it. Sticking it in my mouth, I started to fight helplessly against the water, kicking and grasping for the air, trying to force my way out.

There was a sudden tug on the rebreather, the android recognizing what was letting me breathe. I slammed a hand to my mouth, locking my jaw in an attempt to hold on to it. The water almost seemed to curl around the edges of it, and in seconds it was being ripped from my mouth. I started thrashing even harder, desperate to escape and receive oxygen. The water around my face seemed to slam into my cheeks, forcing my mouth to part. From there it trickled in through my pursed lips, accelerating towards my lungs.

It was a special kind of drowning, purposeful, with intent. I felt my limbs go slack, all the fight leaving me as this android masterfully forced water into my lungs. My chest was burning, and all I could see was The Joker's face, covered in blood with a maniacal grin.

Sounds were leaking into the water, Wally and Connor's voices, I think they were calling my name. And then something else, Artemis' distinctive raspy tone was there, and I pried my eyes open as she stood in front of the androids with her bow held out in front of her. They didn't seem to learn well for ridiculously intelligent, element-wielding robots, and they looked like they were accepting her surrender.

I watched with half-lidded eyes, the water stinging them as Artemis raced up the side of the androids, backflipped, and shot perfectly straight at the generator. I let my eyes slip closed, the job done, and in seconds the water around me dropped to the floor. I fell in a crumpled heap, one thing on my mind. Drawing myself up to my hands and feet, I crawled to Rob, leaning down to listen for any breathing. There was the faint sound of a breath, and I pushed him onto his side in an attempt to get him to cough up any lingering water. The others were exchanging information, and I caught the tail end of Kaldur assuring Connor that M'gann was alive. Artemis hit the floor next to me, and as Rob began to cough up water, she smiled, "he's breathing too!"

Rob smiled up at her, panting, "way to get traught."

I surveyed the scene, finally relaxing as everyone was safe. Closing my eyes as the edges of my line of sight caved in, I let myself slump to the floor, the sounds of Artemis' panicked cries for help just barely registering before I passed out.

* * *

There was the most uncomfortable tugging sensation in my chest, and as I recognized it my eyes flew open and I jackknifed, skittering away from the source of the tugging in a crab walk. I had to break this robot-

"Catgirl, if you could please calm down," Kaldur said in a relaxed tone, and then there were hands on my shoulders, holding me against a chest. As the world fell into place around me, I realized it was Dick's hands braced against my shoulders, and Kaldur was in front of me, face serene as he had one of his water-bearers extended, connected to a string of water from my mouth. He spoke quietly, "I am removing the excess water from your lungs, it seems the android was quite thorough. However, if you keep struggling I may accidentally take more than intended, and given that you are made of at least 65% water that could prove disastrous."

I nodded, and the tugging sensation picked up again, the water I had been drowning in flew out of my chest and onto the floor. As I sucked in a gasp of air, I realized I hadn't been able to breathe properly before. Coughing, I brought a hand up to wipe my face, "that is terrible, like throwing up from my chest in slow-motion."

Kaldur snorted, "I would also like to point out that the best course of action would be for you to ensure that you are capable of breathing before checking on anyone else next time."

Wally's voice came from below us, "guys? Supey and I are still stuck here!"

"So sorry Arabella detracted from that by drowning Kid, we'll just leave her there to die next time," Artemis snapped from my side.

I waved a hand, "I'm fine, this is like, the second time I've almost drowned in a month. I have practice now." I turned to Dick, "speaking of, since we've both seen each other drown so I think it's safe to say we can stop doing that."

He snorted, "sure thing Belle, but I think it's kind of up to the crazy people who try to kill us."

"Well we do kind of ask for it," I pointed out, "y'know, what with the whole running around in spandex and kevlar, and punching them in the face."

"Love this little reunion you guys have going on over there but if you could come down and let us out that would be great," Wally called from where he and Connor were stuck.

I staggered to my feet, "on the way Kid, not everyone moves as fast as you."

"Do you need to be carried?" Kaldur asked politely, stowing away his water-bearer.

"Yes," I said with an eye roll, "in fact I think I want to be carried around like a princess all week."

"You asked for it," Rob said with an evil grin, hooking his arm under my legs and around my back in one swift motion, picking me up off the floor.

I struggled in his grip, "Robin that was _sarcasm_ , put me down!"

He shook his head, "no can do, what would Catwoman say if I denied her daughter's one request after coming down from a near-death experience?"

I narrowed my eyes, " _Robin_ \- I can't say your full name so this is less effective- _put me the hell down!_ "

He laughed, letting me drop to my feet when we got to Wally and Connor, I scowled and Wally leaned forward in his binds, "so does anyone else want to compare notes?"

"We know what happened to you guys when the androids came," I assured, "we all got here around the same time, and the bots were already wreaking havoc." I turned to Artemis, "I do want to know what happened to you after we split up, where'd you get the extra arrow?"

She dropped her gaze to the floor, "I fell, part of the tunnel came loose and I popped out in Wally's souvenir room, it was on a stand."

"Yes!" Wally said happily, " _told_ you guys that the souvenirs would come in handy someday!"

"Yes, from now on we shall all adhere to your wisdom," Kaldur said solemnly.

I turned to him, "that was sarcasm right? Please tell me that was sarcasm."

Wally made a spluttering noise and Kaldur nodded, "I have learned much about the artform from you and Robin."

I wiped away a fake tear, "my little boy's all grown up."

"Guys," Artemis called, holding up a large, gun-esque cylinder, "what is this?"

"Something I was tinkering with, it's a drill," Wally said excitedly, "well, a laser drill, you can use it to free us."

I poked Rob in the shoulder as Artemis started to fiddle with it, "so how come you didn't need Kaldur-resuscitation, Boy Wonder?"

He narrowed his eyes at the use of the nickname, but started talking anyway, "when the wave crashed down on me I realized you had my respirator, Belle." I dropped his gaze and he hurried to talk again, "not that that was a bad thing, evidently, but I had no way to breathe and I didn't really know right from left, just that the vircator was in place. Figured my only shot was to ' _surrender_ '. Pretend to drown before I actually did," he shrugged, "blacked out though."

"M'gann-" Connor said, a little desperately, reaching for her free hand, the other wrapped around Kaldur's neck as he supported her.

"I'll be fine," she assured him weakly, and I decided I _really_ needed to ask her what was going on between the two of them.

"Will you quit playing with that thing and cut us free already?" Wally snapped at Artemis, and she turned to glare at him.

"It's not working genius, EMP shuts down _all_ machines, remember?"

"All machines present at the time," Red Tornado's voice boomed from the shadows as he whirred in doing his flying tornado thing. Setting himself down, he regarded us all, "what has occurred?"

"Had a little visit from your… family," Rob said, looking back at the two lifeless androids.

"Your extremely _nasty_ family," Artemis quipped, settling her hand on her hip.

"I was not aware I had relations," RT admitted, walking over towards the androids.

"Where've you been?" Connor demanded.

"Monitor duty on the Watchtower," Red Tornado said, "when it became clear that Cave communications were down, I attempted to investigate. But your Zeta Tubes were also nonfunctional. I transported to Providence, and proceeded here,"

As he knelt by the androids to examine them, Sphere came loose from where it had been stuck in the wall, rolling over towards Connor. He gazed down affectionately at it, "hey boy."

Suddenly the laser fired from Artemis' drill thing, hitting the ground where Wally and Connor were imprisoned. Rob and Wally whipped to the side at the same time, "the pulse is worn off!"

We watched in horror as Red Tornado extended a hand to Fire Bitch, a spark flying between their fingers. Suddenly his eyes glowed red, and he rose up on a tornado, two more forming at his fists. My hands flew to my throat as the air seemed to be ripped from it, black curling at the edges of my vision all over again. I staggered over to Rob, reaching out for him as my knees buckled, and the whole world crashed down around me.

* * *

"Robin, Catgirl, can the two of you hear me? Wake up."

Bruce's voice echoed through the blackness, and I groaned, cracking an eye open. As soon as I realized where I was and what had happened I sat up, looking around for Rob. He was next to me, coming to himself and I let my gaze flick around the room. Each member of the Team was being woken by their mentor, with the exception of Artemis who was still out cold with both Oliver and Clark above her.

Batman's eyes narrowed, "what happened here?"

Rob sat up next to me, and as we stood we exchanged a look and tried to explain it as best and in as much detail as humanly possible. As we spoke quietly, I couldn't help but keep an ear tuned to Superman's attempts at rousing Artemis, worried for her. Thankfully, as Bruce was saying something about individual, recorded briefings I heard a little gasp from her corner as well as Clark's assurance that she was okay, and then she launched into a tirade about the Reds. Panic filled her voice, "wait, where are they?"

"Gone," Rob said quietly, turning around to face her, "all three of them."

I walked a few feet over to her, wrapping her hands in my own, "they're just… gone."

* * *

 **What's that? I'm on time? It's a miracle! (Technically it's past midnight here and thus no longer Sunday but we're gonna gloss over that). In other news, this is (I'm decently sure) my longest chapter ever! It's 10k+, so hopefully, that makes up for any perceived lateness. My darling twin brother, who I finally convinced to read this, as well as the fact I realized last update that this story is a year old!), have prompted me to look back at the prologue of this story. And cringe. It's terrible. Honestly looking back at where I was when I published this story everything I wrote then makes me want to set myself on fire. So, will be rewriting it! Nothing major, just fixing it up so I don't look back at the beginning of this story and shudder. I don't really know when that'll be done, but I will definitively have a new chapter up this Sunday anyway.**

 **I'm taking a trip with my family about two weeks into August, so I thought I'd throw that out there now. I'll be gone until the beginning of September so this story will be on hiatus during that, but I'll have a chapter the Sunday I get back, assuming I don't get back on a Sunday. And in addition to making me look back at the prologue, my brother suggested I start replying to reviews, so in more fun news, I'll be doing that too! Just one more thing to make my author's notes ridiculously long, like this one (and the last one dear god). Anyway, see you next time!**


	13. Alpha Male

**Haha. Hi guys. Read the note on the bottom for an explanation.**

* * *

 **MOUNT JUSTICE**

 _ **September 23, 06:34 EST**_

* * *

Green Arrow had sat the seven of us down at the dining room table in the kitchen, one of the only places in the Cave that hadn't been destroyed, while the majority of the League ran around trying to repair the damages. As he disappeared towards the fridge, I laid my head down on the cool granite of the table, still dizzy. Artemis nudged my hand from across the table, "you okay?"

"Mhmm," I murmured, "just a little dizzy, bit of a headache. Being knocked out twice in the span of twenty minutes will do that to you."

I opened my eyes at the sound of a bowl hitting the table. GA set down a bowl of pretzels, wearing his Supportive Face. The idea of food made my stomach churn, and even Wally glared up at Oliver from where he had his head perched on his arms, "thanks, but no thanks."

"Yeah!" Rob said contrarily, "what we want, are answers. About Red Tornado and his siblings."

"Exactly!" Wally exclaimed, and as Green Arrow grabbed the pretzels to take away he snatched for it, speaking under his breath, "leave the bowl."

I snorted, his hardass attitude gone as soon as the food was threatened, but I figured he must be pretty hungry by now what with his enhanced metabolism. I would be hungry by now, if I wasn't so lightheaded. M'gann regarded me with worry, "do you think you have a concussion again?"

She and the other non-humans of our merry little band had a hard time coming to grips with human fragility. In M'gann's case, she tended to jump to the worst possible conclusion. I shook my head, sitting up, "I'm fine, I promise. A little lightheadedness isn't the end of the world."

A yell echoed, and all of us whipped around as Connor barreled across the room to pin Kaldur up against a wall, yelling in his face, " _you knew?_ That android and his maniac family nearly killed M'gann!"

As the rest of us sat in stunned silence the Martian in question jumped up, flying over towards the scuffle, "Connor, what are you doing?"

As she landed beside him we all got to our feet and he backed off a bit, still holding Kaldur by the shirt, "Kaldur knew we had a traitor among us, and said _nothing_." My jaw dropped. Kaldur _knew_ there was a traitor? The absolute terror of the past twelve hours could have been avoided, we could have been _prepared_.

"You knew?" Rob demanded.

Wally glared over at Kaldur, "and didn't tell _us_?"

"I sought to protect the Team-"

His explanation was cut off by Artemis, "protect us from _what?_ Knowledge that might have saved our lives?"

Connor looked back at M'gann, "you almost died!"

"Enough." Batman's voice echoed through the room, bringing all of us to a heel. Connor let go of Kaldur and we all approached Bruce slowly. He regarded us with authority, "with Red Tornado… missing, the Team will now be overseen by rotating supervisors. Captain Marvel has volunteered to take the first shift."

The man himself came forward, looking absurdly excited by this turn of events. He offered a bright grin, "I'm really looking forward to hanging with you guys." The attempt at teenage vernacular was endearing, and we all looked around amongst ourselves, partly annoyed.

Connor turned to mutter to Kaldur, "after I dismantle Red Tornado, you and I are gonna-"

Bruce cut him off, "Red Tornado is a member of the Justice League, that makes him a League responsibility. You _will_ leave him to us." He gestured to thin air, a hologram of the front page of a newspaper titled 'NEWS OF THE PLANET' appearing there. "I have another assignment for this team," there was a grainy, black-and-white image of a giant gorilla bearing a machine gun, wearing what looked to be army get up that _had_ to be photoshopped, the caption reading 'GORILLA TRADES BANANAS FOR BULLETS'.

A second photo of an injured Mayor Hill from the Gotham Truth Rag appeared, "Gotham mayor attacked by guerrilla gorilla?" Wally read out, voice unbelieving.

"Batman _please_ ," Rob pleaded, "tell me you're not sending us on this _joke_ of a wild ape chase."

"I _never_ joke about the mission," Bruce chastised, and Rob backed down with wide eyes. It had been a while since he had been scolded like that by Bats. Bruce stared us all down, "I've checked the sources, I've studied the patterns. Mayor Hill's encounter is only the latest in a series of incidents." He turned to Kaldur, "Aqualad, you and your team will depart for India and check this out."

Kaldur nodded, and after our latest revelation, the thought of being ordered around by Kaldur was hardly a pleasant one. Everyone else seemed to share the sentiment as we brushed past Kaldur wordlessly, with the exception of Kid who turned to Kaldur with a face of disgust, "heh, _your_ team."

Artemis and M'gann filed into the Bioship quietly, and Kid, Rob and I walked behind a little slower, KF muttering under his breath, "can you believe this?"

I winced, Wally's ability to hold grudges was _legendary_ , I couldn't hold a candle to him. Kaldur wasn't going to be forgiven for a while. _Which_ , I reminded myself, was okay because Kaldur fucked up majorly and I wasn't going to be forgiving him either.

Captain Marvel flew over, landing in front of the ramp. Rob looked over at him in disbelief, "you're coming with?"

"Sure!" Marvel said happily, "we'll have a blast."

As he walked into the Bioship, Rob narrowed his eyes, turning back to me and Kid, "translation? He blames us for Red Fiasco. Doesn't trust us."

Kaldur walked up behind us on the tail end of Dick's sentence, and Wally stared back at him coldly, "it's a big club."

The Bioship flew faster than any earthen jet or plane, but M'gann had to keep to a reasonable speed inside Earth's atmosphere, and it would still take at least four hours to fly from Happy Harbour to wherever the hell in the Indian jungle we were going to. I fully planned on using those four hours to sleep. Taking my usual seat towards the back, I couldn't help but notice how everyone seemed to avoid sitting around Kaldur, Wally, Captain Marvel and Artemis eventually sitting in the chairs behind him. I instinctively felt bad, wanting to comfort him as his face took on a crushed look, but then I remembered what he had done and fresh wave of anger had me clenching my fists.

Closing my eyes and curling into myself, I murmured a thank-you to M'gann as my chair elongated and gained cushioned padding by my head, forming into something like a car seat leaned back. It was easier to fall asleep than I thought, exhaustion hitting me like a wave, and I slipped into a deep sleep within a minute of setting my head down.

* * *

 **NORTHERN INDIA**

 _ **September 23, 21:36 IST**_

* * *

I woke up what felt like a few hours later, yawning as the cabin of the Bioshop came into focus. Sitting up and stretching, I gazed around, my eyes immediately pausing over the window. It was nighttime here, and the sky was covered in what had to be a billion stars. I stared out the window in awe, pressing up to the glass to see closer. It was stunning, pictures never did the sight of it justice. M'gann's amused voice floated over from behind me, "having fun?"

I smiled, "you never see stars in Gotham, what with all the air and light pollution, so I'm always really surprised when I see how beautiful they are."

Rob smirked from in front of me, "we were on a night flight somewhere and she spent the whole time with her blanket wrapped around her head staring out the window instead of sleeping." M'gann laughed and a map popped up over Rob's wrist as he turned to her, "approaching the drop point in sixty seconds."

Her face instantly grew serious, "marker dropped, preparing for landing."

Robin, Artemis and I stood, getting ready to drop down as lines appeared on the ceiling. Clipping ourselves on, the three of us stood in a circle as a hole appeared in the bottom of the Bioship. It was strange for us to be sectioned off together again, and I found that there was almost a new bond between the three of us, the kind you needed to almost die together to have. As the hole widened, we jumped down, the lines keeping our descent controlled and quiet. Unclipping ourselves immediately, we ducked off to the sides, nodding when we saw that the area was safe. As the rest of the Team piled out of the Bioship, which was now resting in camouflage mode, Rob turned back to them, "all clear."

Kaldur stepped forward to address us all, "switch to stealth, and we'll review mission parameters."

"Parameters?" Wally snarked as he tapped his chest, yellow fading to black, "we don't need no stinkin' parameters."

"It's recon, we know what to do," Rob said coldly, turning to leave.

Kaldur shook his head, turning towards them, "Kid, Robin-"

Dick cut him off, "the four of us," he said, gesturing between him, Kid, Kaldur and I, "started this team 'cause the Justice League was keeping secrets from _us_."

"Or, did you forget that?" Kid asked, lowering his goggles, "like you forgot to tell us about the mole."

The two of them took off into the jungle, and Kaldur looked utterly defeated, turning to me for support. I shook my head, speaking quietly, "either you kept this from me because you thought I was the mole-" he opened his mouth to protest but I raised a hand to silence him, "don't interrupt me. Or because you questioned my loyalties in some shape or form. That breaks my heart, Aqualad."

Connor stepped forward, wrapping a hand around M'gann's arm possessively, "c'mon, I'll keep you safe." His voice was harsh and overly authoritative, and she wrested her arm out of his grip, glaring at him. From the look on her face she was speaking to him telepathically. His face fell a little, "I— just wanna protect you."

I felt my hackles raise at how he was treating her and Artemis seemed to be thinking in the same vein as she stomped towards him, "like Aqualad protected us?" She poked him in the chest with the tip of her bow, "I'm not sure your protection, or your _patronizing_ is good for our health."

I glared at him, "Miss Martian's a big girl, she can take care of herself. She doesn't need some big, strong protector looking after her. And she sure as hell doesn't need you ordering her around."

We grabbed her, practically radiating defiance and the three of us walked off into the dark. As we went, M'gann's voice was quiet, "thank you two."

I crossed my arms, "absolutely no problem, Supey needs to learn how to treat a girl. Speaking of, what the hell is going on with the two of you?"

"Can this wait? Hardly the time and place," Artemis said, looking around the forest uneasily.

M'gann flew above us for an eagle-eye view as we walked, making our way through the jungle in whatever direction we felt like. I was struck by instant regret that we hadn't all stayed to listen to the plan. Right now it was the seven of us plus Captain Marvel just running around blindly, hoping to run into a clue.

That clue made itself apparent as a crocodile the size of a freaking truck sprung up from the river we were walking along. It lunged at M'gann, an arrow already in Artemis' hands when the ground exploded beneath us, a second crocodile bursting up from the water, sending us flying.

The crocodile grabbed Artemis by the quiver, dragging her underwater. Flashes of random facts I knew about crocodiles went through my head as I dove beneath the surface. It launched into a death roll, sending gigantic waves through the water and I kicked off a nearby stone, trying desperately to get close enough to do some damage. Wrapping a hand around Artemis' wrist, I slashed the strap of her quiver as M'gann pencil dived in behind us. Artemis started to float upwards and as I raked my claws across the crocodile's eye, M'gann sprouted a second set of arms and flung the both of us through the water towards the surface.

The water seemed to explode around us, parting like the Red Sea to leave us lying in a circular hole in the river. I scrambled to sit up, trying to help Artemis get in a recovery position as she hacked up a lung. She cleared her airway and sat gasping for a second, "okay, nearly drowning _two_ nights in a row? Way less fun than it sounds."

I nodded, rolling over to lean back on my elbows, "welcome to the frequent drowners club, we have buttons and shirts that say, 'my lungs plus water'."

We stopped to laugh for a minute and then M'gann paused, mirth draining from her face, "do you think we should contact Aqualad?"

I nodded, "it's a good idea, we need to know if we're the only ones who've seen this."

M'gann nodded, pressing two fingers to her temple. A mindlink bloomed between the three of us and Kaldur, M'gann's presence stretching out across the jungle to speak into his mind. Her voice rang out in my skull, " _Aqualad, can you hear me_?"

His answer was immediate, " _yes Miss Martian, report_."

" _Artemis, Catgirl and I were attacked by animals wearing inhibitor collars. Like those used on convicts at Belle Reve Prison_." A stark bit of annoyance interrupted the sense of intrigue on Kaldur's end and I wondered what was happening with him. M'gann spoke again, " _Aqualad_?"

" _Apologies, Miss Martian_ ," he said, " _Captain Marvel just ran off after a tiger_."

That piqued my curiosity, " _a tiger_?"

A sense of deadpan-ness surrounded me on all sides as three different voices told me, " _no going after the cat_."

I pouted, I had only seen tigers a few times before in my life, and only once up close. I easily shared Selina's love of cats, but that didn't mean I was immediately going to run after the first one I saw. No matter how much I wanted to. The link settled as Kaldur probably started doing something, and we waded out of the water, Artemis and I perching on a log as M'gann stood in front of us. The air was eerily quiet, nothing but the sound of crickets for miles. Popping a new pill, my senses sharpened again. I could smell the faint scent of something rotting far away, but there wasn't anything abnormal for where we were. As Artemis dumped the water out of her broken quiver, Kaldur's voice came back again, sharp and authoritative, " _Miss Martian, I need a telepathic link up with the entire team._ _Now_."

Her hand flew back up to her temple, and the link stretched out, almost hooking the boys' minds and bringing them back. Her eyebrows lowered, " _link established_."

" _Should he really still be giving us orders_?" Artemis questioned, " _and should_ you _really be following them_?"

" _Listen, please._ " Kaldur's voice was commanding and I felt our collective attention turn to him.

Wally interjected sarcastically, " _oh good, Aqualad's voice in my head. I've_ so _missed that_."

Rob cut in, " _hey Kaldur! KF and I were attacked by giant vultures. 'Course since we're moles, you probably think we attacked ourselves_."

" _If he did_ ," Artemis said, clipping on her quiver, " _he wouldn't tell you_."

M'gann put her hands on her hips, " _Superboy, are you online or just pouting_?"

I raised an eyebrow, trying to pull back my intrigue from hitting the link like trying to stop water from flowing downhill. The two of them were definitely dating. No questions about it, totally official and probably exclusive.

" _Busy_ ," he said, a strange sense of urgency on his end, " _call back later_."

From there the link spiralled into a conversation about how much everyone disliked Kaldur at the moment where everyone spoke at once. I felt like burying my face in my hands and telling them all to shut up as Wally's voice rang in my ear, " _what gets me is how nonchalant he is about_ not _telling us_."

" _He should be chalant_ ," Rob agreed, " _way chalant._ Extremely _chalant_."

" _How can we be a team if he doesn't trust us with his secrets_?" Artemis asked, and I held back a 'that's rich', honestly everyone was being so hypocritical I was one more stupid comment from losing my shit.

" _Or if Connor doesn't trust us to take care of ourselves_?" M'gann added, clearly bitter.

" _Did he really think you or I could've been the mole_?" Wally asked, not directed at anyone in particular but he was probably talking to Robin.

" _We've known each other for years_!" Rob exclaimed.

" _Trust is a two-way street_ -"

M'gann cut Artemis off, " _and you know they'd hate it if we kept secrets from them! Not that we'd do that. Never_."

" _Enough_." Kaldur's voice cut through the mess that was the mindlink, and silence fell in his wake that I was unbelievably grateful for. " _Captain Marvel has been captured_ ," he said gravely, " _and we must act as a team to save him_."

Wally laughed, " _under_ your _leadership? I don't think s-_ "

" _This is not up for debate_ ," Kaldur said, in such a Batman way I felt my eyes go wide, " _you all chose me to lead. When the mission is over if you all wish to select a new leader, I will_ happily _step down. But until that time, I_ am _in command here_."

He almost seemed angry. Not in a yelling at us through the mindlink way but with the kind of cold anger I knew he wasn't really expressing, at least not in the way I had grown familiar with it. It was unsettling coming from someone as calm and level-headed as Kaldur, and I receded back into myself. Pulling my presence away from the collective like tugging on a rope, I felt Artemis doing the same thing. The same conditioned reaction, I guessed, and I wondered if Lawrence had ever spoken that way before 'punishing' her.

I sent the smallest whisper her way, " _you okay_?"

She nodded, raising an eyebrow back and I nodded too. We were both fine. Standing together, we all started trading information as to where we were in an attempt to locate each other and group up. Eventually, we all sort of stumbled upon each other. Standing in a giant circle, I couldn't shake the feeling of us all being pissed off at one another. The tension made me want to run away, hide somewhere safer. Instead I wiped my face clean of any emotion and worked to keep it that way, standing loosely at attention as Kaldur went over the plan.

Said Atlantean was standing across the circle from me, hands drawn behind his back and looking for all the world like a general in a shitty war movie. His face was calm, demanding authority and I found myself wondering if he had been taking lessons from Bats. I took a moment to assess the rest of the team. Dick and Kid were standing in practically identical positions, arms crossed, scowling, and generally looking angry and upset. M'gann looked distracted, chewing on her lip a mile a minute, arms wrapped around herself. Turning to Artemis, I blinked in surprised when I saw she was almost doing the same thing I was. The only difference in her posture from mine was her crossed arms as she gazed around at everyone.

Kaldur cleared his throat, "Captain Marvel has been captured. As of yet, the entity who took him is unknown, but what we do know is that they are using some kind of technology to create force fields of a sort, and-" he turned to M'gann, nodding towards her, "that they are using inhibitor collars of the kind used in Belle Reve prison to control the animals within this jungle, including some of which that have been given Kobra Venom to enhance their size and sense of aggression." He finished with a nod towards Rob and Wally, thanking each person who provided him with information. Stepping forwards, he looked us all in the eye, "here's the plan."

* * *

Crouching in the grass, I was grateful for a gentle breeze that blew across the back of my neck, disturbing the humid night air. Kaldur and Artemis were a little further ahead on the hill, M'gann perched in a tree not too far from them, and Kid, Rob and I were the closest to the building we had found. It was a great stone complex, crawling with greenery that suggested it had been here a while and surrounded by tall metal cones with strange antenna-like protrusions at the top. The architecture of the building was too modern to suggest it had been here any longer than ten years and as I analyzed the perimeter I absentmindedly popped a new pill. As my senses sharpened, a strange smell hit my nose and I recoiled. Kaldur's voice filled my head, " _what is it Catgirl_?"

I wrinkled my nose, " _it smells like hospital, antiseptic or something, maybe iodine? Whatever's happening in there can't be pretty_."

A distinct sense of determination flowed from M'gann, " _I'll fly over_."

" _Negatory_ ," Wally said, goggles lit up deep red, " _the field extends like a dome over the whole compound_."

" _The pylons are insulated_ ," Rob mused from where he was tapping away at his holoscreen, " _but one good shock could cause a momentary gap_."

" _I see a target_!" Artemis reported, bow already drawn and I flicked my gaze over to where she was looking, an innocuous looking keypad of sorts with a glowing red button by the entrance to the complex.

" _Then be ready to hit it_ ," Aqualad commanded, " _be ready, all of you_."

Rob, Wally and I shared a three-way glance and I leaned forward, muscles drawn tight and ready to run into the action as Kaldur bounded across the clearing towards one of the pylons. Tattoos glowing blue-white with power, he extended his hands out towards the force field in a dazzling show of light. I had to turn away, colours dancing in front of my vision as the crackling of electricity thrummed in my ears. Wally was leaned forwards like me, one hand on his goggles as he stared down the force field, " _now_!"

Artemis let her arrow fly without hesitation, and I forced myself to watch as it sailed neatly through the tiny hole Kaldur had opened, hitting the button perfectly, dead-center bullseye. There was a beeping from it, and Kaldur grunted as he stopped the flow of bioelectricity, tattoos fading back to the usual black. Approaching the entrance silently, Robin stopped dead in front of me and I nearly bumped into his back, looking up to see what had caught his eye.

A monkey of some sort was on top of the complex, one of the collars around its all staggered back to stare at it as it tipped its head back in a piercing scream. Sirens began to blare, lights situated on either side of the monkey pulsing red, and a flood of primates began to pour down into the clearing. Unraveling my whip with a clean crack, I sent it flying towards an approaching monkey.

It recoiled, bounding towards me with a savage growl. I promptly kicked it in the face, lashing out to strike one that had latched onto Kaldur from behind. Turning back to the monkey I had kicked, I found it half a foot from my face. Swiping wildly in surprise, I felt the fur of its face shred under my claws, and it scampered away from me.

My knees buckled as a sudden weight hit my back, and I rolled over hastily, dragging myself backwards and cracking my whip over my head in circles as I scrambled away from two monkeys that had launched themselves at me. Kaldur yelled from across the clearing, "remove their collars!"

"Sounds easy when he says it," Rob griped, trying to fight off monkeys grabbing at his arms and legs. I desperately wanted to help him, and sighed in relief when Artemis sent three arrows flying his way, slicing the collars clean through.

One of mine had scrambled over to me, climbing up my legs with a feral grin on its face. I lashed out at it, cleaving the collar it wore in half with my claws. Its face was instantly wiped of viciousness, and it tore off, fleeing into the jungle. Just as I was finishing up with the second one, a giant gorilla wearing a red military cap and brandishing a machine gun came from inside the complex.

I immediately froze, eyeing the gun. Instead of opening fire, it sniffed the air and promptly reached out into thin air and threw something to the ground. That something, I realized, was Miss Martian, lying in the dirt now in camouflage mode. She faded back to her opaque self and I was already running towards her as the gorilla went to grab her, pointing the gun her way.

Wally was faster though, speeding off towards M'gann in the blink of an eye, "get your hands off her you darn dirty ape!"

For a moment I felt like teasing him, wondering if he was going to break out the gollies and gee willikers. He slammed into the belly of the gorilla, bouncing off and smashing backwards into the dirt. I was already at M'gann's side, curling my whip around the gorilla's throat and giving it a good yank. It struggled, fighting for air and I leant down to shake M'gann, "up and at 'em!"

The gorilla tugged on my whip, uncoiling it from around its throat and using the end of it to pull me up and slam me into the nearby wall. Instantly crumpling to the ground, I clutched my head with a groan. A sudden shockwave rippled past me and I turned to find M'gann floating a foot above the ground, eyes glowing white, having put the gorilla through the wall with some kind of a psychic blast. Staggering to my feet, I joined the others to stand beside her, gazing into the complex to see an R2-D2 looking thing with an honest to god brain inside the top, kept safe within a glass dome. Captain Marvel laid strapped to a medical table a little further inside, a random tiger flopped out on the ground a few feet away from him.

"It's The Brain!" Wally said, leaning forwards like he was ready to break out into a run if necessary.

"Ugh, I can see it's a brain," Artemis said with no small amount of exasperation.

Wally waved his hand in annoyance, "not _a_ brain, _The_ Brain!"

As the gorilla picked itself up from the ground, The Brain whirred over towards us, "in the flesh, uh, so to speak." He turned to face the gorilla, "Mallah!"

Mallah pressed a remote, pylons raising from the floor around us. A wave of pain like nothing I had ever felt, almost similar to Psimon's powers, washed over me. A force pushed down on my head, and we fell to the ground, the strange power holding us in place. Held flat to the floor, Kaldur craned his head to look down at M'gann, speaking through the mindlink, " _Miss Martian, Superboy, now_!"

M'gann's eyes lit up once again, the remote prying itself from Mallah's hand and floating over to her. A second later, the force field disappeared, and as we picked ourselves up from the ground there was a loud crash, Superboy plowing through the back wall with a giant white wolf.

The wolf pounced on Mallah, knocking the gorilla to the ground. As he raised himself up, Kid zoomed towards him, knocking him back down just long enough for Rob to swing past on a grappling hook, effectively kicking him in the face. He staggered back, growling and throwing himself from the floor to the ceiling and then back again in an attempt to reposition himself. He aimed his machine gun at M'gann, who flew out of the way as bullets started to fly every which way. I flung my whip out towards him, curling it around the machine gun and yanking it out of his hand. Superboy took the opportunity to come flying down at the gorilla, missing ever so slightly as Mallah jumped back, which resulted in a decently sized crater in the concrete floor.

Picking the machine gun back up, Mallah fired it off at Connor, knocking the boy back into the wall. Artemis drew back and fired an arrow, the softest thunk echoing through the room as it attached itself to the ammo pack strapped to Mallah's back. In seconds it exploded, forcing the gorilla to stagger forward. I dashed to Artemis' side, watching as she and Rob sent more explosives Mallah's way, effectively knocking his machine gun out of commision. Off to the left, Kaldur was dodging laser beams The Brain was firing at him, and I ran to help, wrapping my whip around the base of The Brain's body and tugging, sending the little fucker into a tailspin.

He whirred loudly, spinning to try and regain his bearing before turning to me, "ah, the daughter of Catwoman, _mais non_?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, " _ferme ta gueule et va te faire foutre, fils de pute_."

He tsked at me, " _je suis sensible à l'effort à parler ma langue, mais quelle bouche_!"

" _Tu parle comme une vache espagnole_!" I hissed, striking out at him with my whip, landing a solid hit on his dome that had him zooming back towards where Mallah was, standing back to back with the gorilla.

Falling back as we surrounded the two of them, I watched out of the corner of my eye as Kaldur freed Captain Marvel and the poor tiger. Forming a circle around The Brain and Mallah, the gorilla stepped towards Superboy with a growl, who just cracked his knuckles, his wolf snarling at his side, "try it. I hate monkeys."

The gorilla looked inclined to attempt but The Brain brought him to a heel,"no Mallah." Something was extending from his base, "this will not be our Waterloo." Whatever he was revealing kept extending, building outwards into some strange structure as a high-pitched hum filled the air, " _au revoir, mes amis_."

"Get down!" KF yelled, and we dropped to the floor as the lights cut out, encasing the room in darkness. Seconds later they flickered back on and The Brain and Mallah were gone, vanished without a trace. Rising slowly, a stunned shock filled the room, broken by Wally, "wait. That big weapon thing was… a light switch?"

We stared at each other, utterly baffled. My eyes flicked to the tiger, standing next to Captain Marvel, and I shrugged, crossing the room. I dropped to my knees beside the big cat, holding out a cautious hand. It sniffed me carefully, amber eyes regarding me with skepticism, eventually butting its head against my hand like a housecat. I _melted_ , delicately scratching it behind the ears, trying my best not to hurt it with my claws as I cooed softly to it, "you're just a big kitty, aren't you? Did that walking pile of scrap metal hurt you? It's okay, he's gone now."

"Hey!" Captain Marvel said, affronted, "that's my tiger."

I gazed up at him pleadingly, "can we work out a joint custody?"

The puppy dog eyes seemed to have an effect as he turned away from me, the tips of his ears pink, "maybe, I have to talk to my lawyer."

I jumped to my feet, pressing a kiss to his cheek, "you're the best!"

He spluttered as I dropped back down to pet the tiger, scratching it under the chin with one hand and playing with it's ear with the other. Rob shook his head, "neither of you are keeping the damn tiger."

I wheeled the puppy dog eyes on him, "but look how happy it is! After such a traumatic experience we can't possibly reintroduce it to the wild."

He didn't budge, "we're going home, and the tiger is staying here where it belongs."

Genuinely saddened, I pressed a last kiss to the tiger's forehead, standing up and moving away from it with reluctance. Wally voice echoed in the mindlink, " _near, faarr, wherever you arrreeeee_."

I glared at him, sending out my dissatisfaction in a stream. He just burst into laughter, and I huffed, striding out of the giant hole in the wall in what I hoped was the general direction of the Bioship, eager to get home.

Robin caught up to me, grabbing my wrist and pivoting me by ninety degrees, "you're going the wrong way."

I frowned, stomping down on the urge to snap. I was running off less than six hours sleep, covered in bruises and scratches from head to toe, and sore in just about every conceivable part of my body with a headache that wouldn't quit pounding at my temples. Rubbing them absentmindedly I caught Dick shooting me a worried glance, "I'm fine."

"You sure you didn't get a concussion or something? You don't look good."

"Thanks," I deadpanned, dropping my hands to my sides.

He made a face, "that's not what I meant and you know it."

Kaldur pulled ahead of us all, slashing at the undergrowth to clear a path and Rob scowled at his back. I rolled my eyes, utterly done with all this bullshit, "lay off him."

His face was incredulous, "what, you're on his side now?"

"I'm not on anyone's side!" I said, throwing my hands in the air, "I'm tired of being mad at him."

"So you just forgive him like that, even after he basically accused each and every one of us of being a mole?"

"Would you have done anything different? Tell me honestly, if you had been ready to run the Team back on Santa Prisca and you eventually found out somehow that there was a mole, would you have told us all?"

He paused, seeming to waver for a moment before going resolute again, "yes, because I trust each and every one of you."

"Bullshit. You wouldn't have even told _me_ and the you would have pulled some stupid, six layers deep, crackpot plan to find out who was the mole. You wouldn't even have considered it in case you accidentally tipped them off."

His jaw fell, "I would never even think for a _second_ that you were the mole."

"Not me maybe," I admitted, "but what about Artemis? You don't completely trust her yet and we're practically best friends at this point. M'gann? Superboy? You'd have considered them all, and if you had told me there was a mole I might have let something slip and ruined your master plan. I'd kick your ass for not letting me know after everything went down, but I'd admit later that you were right."

He stammered, tripping over his own mouth, "I—"

"Know that I'm right?" I suggested, pushing past the last bit of undergrowth that blocked the way to the clearing containing the Bioship. The first soft rays of dawn cut through the shadows, hitting my face, and I felt a grin curl at the corner of my mouth. Tipping my head back, I took the time to enjoy the sun as it warmed the skin of my cheeks. Headache forgotten, I opened my eyes and turned back to face Dick, who was looking at me with the smallest of smiles. I shrugged, "let's just go home."

Wally and Artemis pushed through the brush behind us, her voice clear through the leaves, "what are you grinning about?"

"One word," he said, holding up Mallah's red cap and putting it on, "souvenir!"

"Two words," she said, pulling ahead of him, "gorilla lice!"

He froze, face horrified as he pulled the cap from his head, "oh man!" He dangled it away from him like a piece of trash and I dissolved into giggles, high-fiving Artemis as she came to stand next to me.

As Kaldur removed a collar from one of the monkeys from earlier Captain Marvel leaned down to talk to the tiger, "and that's the last of the collars?" The tiger roared in response, and CM smiled, "and I can count on you to keep the other animals out of trouble?" The tiger roared again and I felt my heart grow three sizes. Captain Marvel gave it one last pet, "good, I'll be back for a visit. Promise." Taking off in a fit of snarls, Marvel waved it goodbye, "I think I'll name it Mr. Tawny."

I smiled at the childlike look on his face, "how do you know it's a mister? All the best cats are girls you know."

"You sound more and more like your mother every day," Rob muttered, and I watched the tiger dive back into the jungle, running past Connor and M'gann who were standing with his wolf.

He pet the giant beast affectionately, "the rest of the pack is gone, what are you still doing here?"

"I think he wants to stay with you," M'gann teased affectionately, and I made a mental note to drag her to coffee because they were definitely dating and she _didn't tell me_.

"Can I keep him?" Connor asked, clearly thrilled with the idea.

Wally laughed, "first the sphere, now this beast? Dude, you sure make a habit of collecting strays."

"Maybe because he's such a stray himself," M'gann said warmly, and the two of them shared the 'we're communicating telepathically look' again. I turned to Rob, raising an eyebrow and he gave me a shrug in return.

Admittedly this raised complications. Artemis was low-key into Connor, and Wally was definitely one-hundred-and-ten percent into M'gann. Irrelevant, obviously, considering M'gann had been practically in love with Connor since she first laid eyes on the boy, and honestly with all the eye-fucking that went on between Artemis and Wally they needed to get over themselves and realize they were into each other. My brain instantly began drawing up diabolical plans to figure all this out but before I could set anything in stone Rob elbowed me in the side, "no meddling."

I blinked at him innocently, making my way up the gangway, "I would _never_."

He narrowed his eyes, following me, "right, because you would flip shit if someone tried to mess with your relationship and you wouldn't want to be a hypocrite."

Wally's voice caught my attention again, "well, he's gonna need a name. How's about _Krypto_?"

The wolf instantly started snarling in displeasure and I snorted, biting my lip to suppress a full-on giggle fit. Connor grinned, "pass."

"Besides," M'gann said curiously, "isn't that taken?"

As I shook my head fondly, Kaldur started to walk up towards us, stopping when Rob started to speak, "look I need to know, why did you keep the mole intel a secret?"

The rest of the team turned to pay attention, and I found myself waiting for his answer too. Kaldur looked between all of us, face unwaveringly neutral, "the source of the tip was Sportsmaster."

I blinked in surprise, _Sportsmaster_? Artemis had even more of a reaction, voice too high-pitched to be unbiased as she recoiled away from Kaldur, " _what_? You can't trust _him_!"

I had to agree, and for a second I entertained the idea of Sportsmaster saying that to make Kaldur suspicious of Artemis. From his questioning of M'gann, Connor and Wally before the attack on the Cave, if that was the plan it had worked. I pressed my mouth into a flat line, if I ever got the chance to be within grabbing distance of Lawrence Crock again, I was going to invent a new kind of pain for him to feel.

"I do not," Kaldur said calmly, "it seemed possible, even likely, that he was attempting to divide the Team with false information."

"And given how this mission went," Robin said slowly, "he nearly succeeded. But you had to consider it might be true."

"Yes, as leader I did. In which case I did not wish to alert the traitor."

"Hate to say it," Rob admitted, "but makes sense." He offered the Atlantean a smile and I resisted the urge to throw my hands up in the air. Did I not just say the same freaking thing five minutes ago? Every so often I wanted to strangle Dick and this was shaping up to be one of those times. There was a new piece to the puzzle now though, the whole situation clicking into place. But now I had just swapped five million burning questions for just as many new ones, and as soon as I could get Artemis alone for an extended period of time I wanted to sit down with her ask what she thought about it.

"I am still prepared to step down," Kaldur said stoically, holding himself straight.

Wally raised his hand, "all in favour of keeping Aqualad as leader?"

My hand shot up alongside everyone else's, and I carefully watched the exchange between Kaldur and Rob, a silent understanding seeming to pass between the two of them. "Guess it's unanimous," Captain Marvel said, patting Kaldur on the back, "see ya tomorrow."

He waved goodbye, and Kaldur looked confused, "you're not coming back with us?"

"Nah, gotta fly!" and with that, he took off into the sky, rapidly disappearing from view.

I hung back as the rest of the team filed into the Bioship, M'gann turning to Connor, "so what are you gonna' call him?"

"What's wrong with Wolf?" he asked, the two of them pressed close together.

"Generic, but acceptable," Wally said, voice echoing from the inside of the ship.

Kaldur's face changed slightly as he looked out at the jungle, and I laid a hand on his shoulder, "you did good today."

He turned to look at me, "you truly think so?"

"I know so," I said with a grin, "for all the shit we gave you, you handled it with grace and humility. And you went all Batman on our asses, have you been taking lessons?"

"Captain Marvel gave me some wise words of encouragement," he admitted.

I turned to enter the Bioship, "if it makes you feel better, even though I was pissed, I know you did what you had to do. You're a real leader Kaldur, and we're lucky to have you."

"Catgirl?" I stopped, twisting to look at him. He dropped his gaze, "what would have done, if you had been in my position?"

"Honestly?" I said, offering him a rueful smile, "I would have run to Rob as soon as Sportsmaster said anything and asked him what I should do. And maybe have gone to Bats straight afterwards. But that's not a good idea, and it wouldn't have been what was best for the Team. Admittedly your chosen route had its own pitfalls but that's a hell of a Catch-Twenty-Two. You went with the option that did the least damage instead of the one that made you the most comfortable. That's why you're the leader, not me. You can make those difficult decisions without letting your emotions influence your judgement, that's something I have to work on that every day."

"For what it's worth," he said, coming to stand next to me, "I think every objective leader needs someone like you, someone who listens to their intuition and feelings above all to balance them out. A head is useless without a heart. That's why I'm grateful Robin has you. One day, when he is ready to meet his destiny, you two will make an amazing team."

I grinned cheekily, "we already do."

He laughed, and we walked inside, the ramp closing up behind us. Settling in amongst our friends, everyone finally happy and speaking to one another again, M'gann set us on the course for home.

* * *

 **GOTHAM**

 _ **September 26, 19:21 EST**_

* * *

Sitting in a rather uncomfortable dress, the hard line of my mask digging into my skin, I found myself across the table from Tommy Rospera once again. His golden lion mask gleamed in the candlelight, the rich smell of the Italian food we had ordered filling the air between us. Taking a quick sip of my lemon water, I turned my gaze up to him, "what do you know about The Brain?"

He looked surprised, "The Brain? What do you need to know?"

"Anything and everything you know about him."

"Okay," he said slowly, laying down his fork and knife, "he's never done anything for my father, but he's of French origin. He was a brilliant scientist working down in Bwunda, something to do with gorillas. Somewhere along the line he had his brain removed and placed in that robotic container of his. Other than that, he keeps a pretty discreet profile. I've never heard much about him."

I nodded, "interesting. He's come up on the League's radar as of late."

"Don't suppose you could go into detail?" he asked, painting on a roguish grin.

"Better luck next time sport," I said, "anything interesting going on in the criminal underworld?"

His facial expression sobered, and he let his gaze flick around the room a few times before leaning in to speak quietly, "I've heard some strange whispers."

"Oh?"

"Something odd is going on. People have been getting weird orders, even weirder rumours have been flying around."

I frowned, "like what?"

"Word has it that Count Vertigo of Vlatava has been acting strangely, getting even more explicit with his shady dealings. Usually he covers his tracks pretty well but he's either getting sloppy or bold."

"You think he's going to pull something big soon?" I asked, eyebrows knit together.

"I wouldn't doubt it," he admitted, "I don't know much though, I don't have eyes in Vlatava. It's something I'm working on."

"Such a hard worker," I teased in an attempt to lighten the mood, "must be hard running a criminal empire all by your lonesome."

"Well," he said, eyes suddenly heady, "if it were up to me I wouldn't be lonesome."

"Keep dreaming Tommy," I said, twirling my fork around another bite of pasta.

He reached out across the table, taking my free hand in his, "please be careful. I'm serious," his eyes were somber now, entire face grave, "I don't know what's going to happen, and I'm not really sure if you can label what's between us as friendship, but I want you to know that every time I see a disaster or crime on the news I know the Justice League will respond to, I worry about you. I have a Google alert set up for you on my phone, and every time it notifies me of something new, my heart jumps into my throat. I care about you, so, promise me you'll be safe."

I swallowed thickly, half wanting to tell him that there wasn't anything between us and half wanting to tell him what he wanted to hear. I went with option C, "you know that's not something I can guarantee."

He leaned back in his chair, letting go of my hand and running his own through his thick black hair, "guess not huh? You superheroes, always jumping in the face of danger to save someone else. I suppose it would be against your nature to ask you to employ a little self-preservation?"

"I'm afraid so," I said with a sad smile.

"That's what sets us apart," he said, "I'd do anything to save my own skin and you're always thinking about others. Selfless."

"Selflessness is kind of in the job description," I joked, fiddling with my straw. If I knew Tommy better I'd tell him how I wasn't so sure about my selflessness. I didn't have Bruce's objectivity, his ability to push down his feelings about the people he cares about in order to do what's best for the common good. If it came down to saving one of my teammates or a room full of innocents, I didn't know which I would pick.

Tommy shook his head and changed the subject, and I let myself push away my thoughts and whatever moment had just occurred between us. I had one objective here, and that was to exchange as little information as I could get away with while getting as much as Tommy would give me, which was fairly easy given his fondness for me. That was all, and it was all it ever would be.

* * *

 **HAPPY HARBOUR**

 _ **September 27, 17:54 EST**_

* * *

"Wait, so you met him in Paris?" M'gann asked, taking another sip of her latte.

We were sitting at one of the outside tables of a cozy little café we frequented, given that they sold what was probably the only legitimate coffee in the whole of Happy Harbour. It was officially autumn here, and I had to admit that people were right about New England trees. The leaves were coloured in striking shades of crimson, gold and orange, and it reminded me why I loved fall so much.

Having filled M'gann in on my 'rendezvous' for lack of a better term with Tommy last night, she suddenly had a million questions. I nodded, "his father was one of my mom's favorite fences for anything she acquired in Europe. His father's Abramo Rospera by the way, and he was the head of an infamous international crime syndicate. Eventually somebody messed up during a high-profile job and he got arrested, left Tommy's older brother Nicolai to head the company." I took a pointed sip of my mocha, "Nicolai's freaking psychotic though, so Tommy took it on himself to run the company and now he's about your age and an internationally feared crime boss."

"And every so often you two meet up in Gotham to gossip over fancy food?" she asked, incredulous.

"Tommy had just started running the syndicate when he got tangled up in an investigation Bats was doing in Italy. Catwoman, Rob and I were there too, and because Cat had a soft spot for his dad and because he wasn't directly involved in what was going on, she convinced Bats not to expose Tommy to the authorities if he kept us updated on the goings-on of the criminal underworld. He apparently took a shine to me when we were there because he requested me as his point of contact."

"That's so cool," M'gann breathed, "you're like a girl James Bond!"

I laughed, "it mostly consists of him flirting every second breath and me trying to weasel information out of him."

"Is he at least cute?" she questioned, spinning her cup on the little plate provided.

"Decently cute," I admitted, eyes suddenly narrowing, "speaking of cute boys, the hell is going on with you and Connor?"

She blushed violently, the red stretching down to her neck and chest, "n-nothing!"

"And I'm best friends with Beyoncé," I drawled, "give me the four-one-one."

She dropped her hands to her lap, speaking quietly, "we're dating."

I jumped up in my seat, "I fucking knew it!"

"You can't tell _anyone_ ," she begged, "we're keeping it quiet, at least for now."

I propped my face up on my hands, "you guys flirt twenty-four-seven and you call that 'keeping it quiet'?"

"Just promise you won't tell anyone? Including Robin?"

I shrugged, "he already knows."

Her face grew confused, "that's not possible, we haven't told anyone."

"To reiterate my earlier point," I said, "you guys are like, blatantly obvious. You act like a married couple. Unless you want everyone and their mothers to know by Halloween, you need to tone it down."

She bit her lip, "that bad huh?"

"Not bad!" I said quickly, "just, very indiscreet. Like a giant billboard with flashing lights and M'gann plus Connor written on it in neon, glow-in-the-dark spray paint indiscreet."

She laughed, "I'm glad I told you, it's nice to talk to someone about it."

I nodded solemnly, "if you ever need someone to bitch to about how ridiculous he's being, let me know."

We dissolved into a fit of giggles, and as the crisp autumn breeze scattered the leaves around our feet I had to admit that this was nice.

* * *

 **GOTHAM**

 _ **September 27, 18:37 EST**_

* * *

Creeping slowly through the dark of Wayne Manor, I followed the distant sound of piano. Poking my head into the ballroom, I spotted Dick off to the side, music emanating from where he sat at the grand piano in the corner. Closing the door softly behind me, I pulled off my socks and shoes.

I hadn't heard whatever he was playing before. It was soft and sweet, like eating cotton candy and I ditched my footwear by the door, leaping into a tour jeté and spinning softly to the piano. There was the slightest of hitches in Dick's playing as I surprised him, and then he picked up again, seemingly spinning the music even richer than before now as I danced in circles around the center of the ballroom. As I kept going, it grew more lyrical than ballet in style, and I lost myself in the fierce joy of soaring across the polished floors. Eventually, I grew tired, movements getting slower and sloppier, and Dick wove the music to a close, ending on a rather bittersweet note. I sat on the floor, leaning backwards to lie a few feet from the piano with my legs drawn up, breathing heavily.

It was a silent for a moment, and I took that silence to reflect on how personal and tender it was to freestyle together like that, going with the flow and molding each of our art forms to complement the other's. It wasn't the first time, whenever I was too angry or sad or otherwise worked up to talk to him and get it out properly, he'd take me down here. He'd sit down at the piano and start playing how I felt, and I'd start dancing it off. By the end of it I always felt better, partly due to the catharsis dancing provided, and partly because when it was over I was reminded of how Dick just inherently understood me, how he always had. Ever since we had first let each other in, we had dedicated a significant amount of time to learning each other inside out, and now, almost four years later, he knew me better than anyone else.

Exactly four years later, I realized slowly. Absentmindedly tugging my shirt up to play with the scar on my stomach, I turned my head to face him. He was perched on the piano bench, turned facing me instead of the keys and I offered him a bright grin, "happy friendiversary."

He shook his head with a smile, "you remembered."

I dropped my jaw in fake indignation, "I always remember!"

"How was coffee with M'gann?" he asked, coming to lay next to me on the floor.

I snorted, "oh I had to give her the lowdown on Tommy and then I interrogated her about Connor and we talked about that for a while."

"They're totally dating, aren't they?"

I listed my head to face him, "I thought you were above this-" I made air quotes, "relationship bullshit?"

He pouted, "don't keep me out of the loop."

"Yeah, they're dating," I said with a sigh, "have been since they went undercover in Belle Reve. M'gann got sealed in ice by Killer Frost after she blew her cover. Apparently after seeing her practically dead, Supey realized everything he had to lose and finally made a move on her."

He laughed under his breath, "of course she didn't initiate."

"To be fair she was wildly obvious with her crush," I pointed out, "it's not her fault he's only been alive and interacting with other people for a few months and has no social skills whatsoever. Someone needs to educate the boy on context clues."

"Wildly obvious might be a bit of stretch, Wally still hasn't caught on."

"She literally went on about how nice his _ears_ are, Wally's just a lovesick idiot who's going to have a rude awakening."

"Him and Artemis seem to have a thing though."

"Artemis and Wally don't have a thing, they have unresolved sexual tension that's unresolved because they don't even realize it's there because they think they hate each other."

He hummed softly and silence fell again, wrapping thick around the room. I turned my face back to the ceiling, "Dick?"

"Yeah?"

"Is it weird that I feel like I've known you for my whole life even though it's only been four years?"

"To be fair, four years is like somewhere between a third and a quarter of our lives. That's a significant portion."

I rolled my eyes, "well it's nice to know the math backs me up."

"Belle?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm really happy I found you half dead in an alley four years ago."

I burst into laughter, rolling over to bury my face in his shoulder, "I'm really happy you found me half dead in an alley too."

"Less happy about the half dead part, but still happy," he added, vibrations running through his chest as he laughed silently alongside me.

There was a sharp knock at the door and Alfred entered, looking as pristine and unruffled as always, clearly perplexed as to why we were on the ground, "supper is ready if the two of you are prepared to join us in the dining room."

I pulled myself up to a sitting position, "always ready for your cooking Alfred."

"I shall notify Master Bruce," he said somewhat stiffly, and once he left we exploded into laughter all over again, a shaking heap on the ballroom floor.

Eventually we collected ourselves and I got up, holding a hand out to Dick, "c'mon Boy Wonder, better get going before Alfred decides to starve us."

A mischievous twinkle glittered in his eyes, "race you?"

I grinned, taking off towards the huge double doors, not even bothering to pick up my socks and shoes. Laughing as we tore down the halls of Wayne Manor, I let a soft warmth pool in my chest as I realized for the five millionth time just how lucky I was to have Dick in my life.

* * *

 **So. It's been a while. I'm going to cut to the chase, I've been ridiculously busy. I went a trip to help out with/attend my cousin's wedding a couple provinces over, came home and attended yet another wedding like a week afterwards, and I started my second (third for you Americans out there) year of high school (that's right, I finally turned sixteen on the 10th, get me some Pull-Ups because I'm a big kid now.) There's a huge jump in difficulty between grade ten and eleven here, so school's been kicking my ass. However, it's finally evened out, (no promises on a regular update schedule during midterms later in the year, but knowing me writing will be how I procrastinate with studying), and I can finally have some semblance of regularity with these chapters again. Technically I've had this one for like two or three weeks now but I didn't want to put it out until I finished the new prologue. (Which is out, if you feel like it go read it, it's not ridiculously different but there are some minor backstory tweaks and the like.) So, updates will be every second Sunday now that I have schoolwork to do (lame, I know) but they'all be at least 7500 words (speaking of, including the new prologue this update is 20k+) so you'll have a decent amount to read when I put stuff out. Now, onto other relevant information:**

 **Yet more French in this chapter, here are the translations:**

 _ **Mais**_ ** _non_ \- Kind of intuitive/overused, it literally means "but no", though the actually meaning is like "no?" or "am I right?"**

 ** _Ferme ta gueule et_ _va_ _te faire foutre, fils de_ _pute_ \- Shut the fuck up (ferme ta gueule is a really rude way of saying shut your mouth) and go fuck yourself, son a bitch/whore.**

 ** _Je suis sensible à l'effort à parler ma langue, mais quelle bouche_ \- I appreciate the effort to speak my language, but what a mouth**

 ** _Tu parle comme une vache espagnole_ \- You speak (note she's using the informal you, even more derogatory) like a Spanish cow (which is an honest to god French insult I swear)**

 ** _Au revoir, mes amis_** **\- This was an actual part of the episode & it's a token French phrase but for those who don't know it means goodbye, my friends.**

 **So there you are, life update + a new chapter, I strongly recommend you go read the new version of the prologue because there are details in it that'll become relevant later (bonus points if you guess them in reviews), and let me know if it's better than the old one. I run a lot of this story past my brother, who tends to be a voice of reason and he's the one who pushed me to rewrite because, and I quote, "this shit's too unbelievable." Please remember that I'm replying to reviews now, (I'm not for this chapter because so much time has gone on between now and the last update) so drop a review if you want a reply from me in the next chapter. See you next time!**


	14. Revelation

**Hey guys! I know it's been a while, but hopefully this was worth the long wait. I'm currently the majority of the way through my midterms, I've just got Bio on Monday. I've actually had this chapter sitting around for a few weeks now, but I just couldn't find the time to edit it. Editing takes up a good chunk of the time it takes me to put out a chapter, mostly because I don't have a Beta reading these over ( _which is why they have so many typos, let me know if you see those and I'll go back and fix them_ ) so I try to be really thorough during the editing process to make up for it. I like to let it sit for like twenty-four hours and then come back to it so I have a fresh brain, and I've wound up rewriting entire scenes that way. That process plus the actual initial writing probably takes me anywhere from eight to sixteen hours to finish a chapter, partly because I pretty much flat out refuse to put out anything under 7000 words unless it's a double-upload. Anyway, there's nothing I hold nearer and dearer to my heart than procrastinating, so I expect I'll have a new chapter up pretty soon as I desperately avoid studying under the pretense of attending to other responsibilities. Responses to reviews are at the end! Go read them, even if you didn't review because I leave really interesting tidbits there.**

* * *

 **MOUNT JUSTICE**

 _ **October 1, 18:11 EST**_

* * *

Leaned against the walls of the mission room, grape sucker dangling from my fingers, I had one eye on the spar happening between Rob and Kaldur and the other on our current chaperones. Captain Marvel was watching the spar, munching on what was either a protein or chocolate bar with vacant-eyed satisfaction. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Zatara was watching the boys with his arms crossed, taking them in like he was sizing up an opponent. The light of the ring lit up their faces in a way that was strangely reminiscent of the glow of a television in a dark room. It was a quiet evening, and I was trying to crack the meaning behind Zatara's tight expression when the boy's spar drew to a close.

The lights came down, and they regarded each other with the kind of affectionate camaraderie that spars generate. I ditched my position against the wall just as Connor and M'gann walked into the room, Wolf at their side. Their mouths were curved into soft smiles, eyes warm, looking for all the world like they were head over heels in love. Rob scooted closer to Kaldur and I, drawing a hand up to his face, "you know they're a couple, right?"

I nodded, suddenly curious, and Kaldur smiled down at us, "I believe I knew before they did." He turned back to them with no shortage of fondness, a wistful expression on his face. I thought again of the mysterious Tula, who apparently had one hand wrapped around Kaldur's heart at all times.

The squeak of sneakers on flooring had the three of us doing a one-eighty, Artemis and Wally emerging from the other entrance to the room. They seemed to be walking in comfortable silence, a sense of ease worked into the way they held themselves. Rob's voice was sarcastic, "do we tell _them_?"

Kaldur seemed to be a second from a laugh, "it is not our place."

I rolled my eyes, "maybe they need someone to hit them over the heads with it."

"Who needs to be hit over the head?" Artemis asked, hands slipping into her pockets.

"Rob's idiot friends," I said as smoothly as possible, cursing her good hearing, "they make disparaging comments about women, I was suggesting we hit them over the head with a book of etiquette."

"And you're a real paragon of etiquette," Dick drawled, catching on immediately.

"Hey! I know it all, Cat made sure of that. I just choose not to adhere to any of it."

Wally shook his head, pointing to the adults, "so if Zatara's our babysitter of the week, why is _he_ still here? And why is he eating my snacks?!"

Before I could make a snarky comment, Glados' voice rang out, the Zeta Port to the left glowing with someone's arrival, " _recognized, Batman 0-2_."

I was caught between a wince and excitement, if Bruce was making an impromptu visit, that meant shit was going down. Which meant a mission, but also that something very, very bad was currently underway. I felt the rest of the team tense up too, and as Bruce strode in we braced for impact.

His voice was grave, "computer, national news."

A GBS feed popped up in a hologram, Cat Grant's ridiculously perky voice floating from the screen, "the initial attack was short-lived," the camera cut away from her standing in front of a wall to footage of what looked to be giant-ass plants growing in the middle of Metropolis city. "But Metropolis was only granted a short reprieve." More footage of Clark swooping down to rescue civilians from the roof of a skyscraper as the plant wrapped its tendrils around it, crushing the concrete and steel with chilling ease. "And despite the intervention of Superman and the Justice League, there seems to be no end in sight."

She stopped talking, the footage cutting to the Eagles and Green Lantern hacking away at the plant. Rob was the first to speak, "should we get out there?"

The hologram disappeared, and Bats turned to face us, "no. The League will soon have the situation under control, that's not why I'm here. According to your intel, Sportsmaster supplied Cadmus Blockbuster formula to Kobra."

"Who combined it with Bane's Venom to create Kobra Venom," Wally said.

"Which The Brain used to create his animal army," Rob continued, furthering the rabbit hole I was falling down.

"And upgrade Wolf," Superboy added, rubbing the aforementioned animal under the chin fondly.

"The Brain also used inhibitor collars," M'gann threw in, "like the ones at Belle Reve Penitentiary."

"Batman," Artemis said, voice cautious, "is it possible that plant thingy is on Kobra Venom too?"

"I had Green Lantern run a spot analysis," he said, hand waving in the air to materialize a hologram keyboard, "the vine's cellulose does contain trace amounts of a Kobra Venom variant."

"These cannot be coincidences," Kaldur said as Rob pulled up his own keyboard, already tapping away, "unrelated criminals are cooperating with one another worldwide."

"Exactly," Bats said, "it's now clear our enemies have formed some kind of… secret society of supervillains. The attack on Metropolis is only the beginning."

My blood chilled, mind flashing back to my latest evening with Tommy as Rob spoke tersely, "you got that right," he pulled up photos of different plants, a new picture popping into existence every second, "plant creatures have sprouted in Gotham City, Paris, Star City, Taipei-"

He was cut off by the pictures turning into sudden static, the harsh buzzing of it filling the room. Wally stared at Rob, baffled, "dude-"

"It's not me!" Rob said, fingers speeding up as he tapped away at the keyboard like he would a piano, "someone's cutting the satellite signal, _all_ satellite signals!"

The static came into horrifying focus as the Joker's face popped up. I jumped backwards, memories of a water tank, a crowbar dripping in blood and the feeling of his breath hot in my ear flooded my head as he stared down the camera. M'gann, seemingly sensing my distress, reached out and smoothed a psychic hand over my mind like someone would stroke someone else's hair.

Joker knocked two fingers against the camera, the sound of it echoing in the silent room. It sounded almost hollow, like when you knocked on the screen of an old-fashioned CRT TV. He spoke in a raspy voice, "ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt your regularly scheduled mayhem to bring you this-" his hand flew up, the pocket knife he was holding unfolding with a soft snick, "important announcement." He turned the camera, the frame leaving him to settle on Wotan, Atomic Skull, Count Vertigo, Black Adam, Poison Ivy, and Ultra-Humanite. Joker's voice played over them, "from the _In_ justice League."

"Original," I muttered, unable to keep the shakiness out of my voice as Joker's laugh sent a chill down my spine.

"We are responsible for the attacks on your cities," Count Vertigo said, "if you wish to save them, a ransom of ten billion American dollars is required. Delivery instructions have been sent to the United Nations, there is no time limit. But, the longer your governments wait…"

Joker's hand stretched across the frame, swinging the camera back to himself, "the more we get to have our… _jollies_."

He laughed again, the screen fading back to static. I stared blankly, searching for a quip but I came up short. I just felt shaky all over, Joker's maniacal laugh filling my head again and again.

Bats' fingers drifted up to his comm, "roger that Aquaman, the UN will prepare the ransom as a fallback. But it _won't_ come to that."

Robin typed away, rewinding the video, "Count Vertigo, The Joker, Poison Ivy, Ultra-Humanite, Atomic-Skull, Black Adam, Wotan, _seven_ heavy-hitters. Probably behind nearly everything and everyone we faced."

My mind was going a mile a minute, trying to factor in Cadmus and Santa Prisca and the League of Shadows and Bialya into all of this. I was brought back to that conversation with Tommy again, the grave look on his face as he begged me to stay safe. Wally turned to Rob, "there's your secret society."

"Not so secret anymore," Artemis said confusedly

"Perhaps after India they realized we would deduce the truth and saw no point in hiding any longer," Kaldur suggested.

"But would we have?" I asked, voice quiet. A hush fell over the room, and my heart jumped into my throat.

"Yeah?" Wally broke the silence, clearly impassioned in an over-the-top way that reminded me vividly of an Ash Ketchum-brand cartoon character, "right now, I say we go kick some plant-creature butt!"

"The Justice League will handle the plants," Batman said, "I have a different job for this team."

"New drinking game," I snarked, "take a shot every time you tell us 'I have a different job for this team'."

"That does not seem like it would produce an enjoyable morning after," Kaldur muttered, and I resisted the urge to give him a high-five.

Bats ignored us, "with the plants attacking so many different locations simultaneously, there must be a central control system. Your mission is to destroy it."

"You realize what you're really asking them to do?" Zatara asked, Italian accent dripping with fatherly concern.

"They're ready," Bruce said simply.

"Ready? Ready for what?" Wally asked stupidly, and Artemis punched him in the shoulder with an annoyed look for the umpteenth time in ten minutes.

"Ow!" he hissed, "will you cut that-"

She rolled her eyes, " _hello_ Wally," M'gann was clearly rubbing off on her, "if the big guns are fighting plants, who do you think _we'll_ be fighting?"

"I don't know!" he said sorely, rubbing his arm, "I guess we'll-" Cutting him off by pointing her finger at the screen, he took in where it was paused on the supervillains. His eyes widened, " _ohh_."

"Well Batman," Zatara said with slight disbelief, "I trust you're correct."

"I trust _you_ can locate the enemy," Bruce retorted. He almost sounded defensive of us, and I felt a small kernel of pride burn in my chest. Bruce believed in this team.

"Indeed," the magician sounded grave, "Wotan's involvement suggests sorcery is part of how the plants are controlled." Zatara turned to where we were clustered together, "Robin, if you will provide a holomap." Dick pulled up a 3D model of the globe like his life depended on it, and Zatara approached it with outstretched hands, "I'll search for signs of concentrated sorcerous activity." His voice became low and booming as he began to chant, the backwards words seeming to hold power even by themselves as he uttered them. A little red dot flickered, "there. That is where you will find the Injustice League's central control system."

"Coordinates locked in," Rob said, "the Louisiana Bayou."

"We are on our way," Kaldur said with a nod, and we all took that as a sign to go get changed.

Dashing to my bedroom, I located and threw on my uniform with the kind of speed that would have put Wally to shame. Yanking my gloves on as I nudged the door open with my foot, I practically ran out of my room with my mask still clenched between my teeth. The boys were already in the hangar, turning to face me as I entered, fingers busy shaking my braid out. Kaldur's voice was curious, "how do you do that without cutting yourself?"

I paused, hands still in the process of pulling my hair back in my standard high-pony, "I dunno, just got used to the claws I guess."

"She used to cut up her face all the time," Rob said with a grin, "she'd scratch her nose or cheek without realizing her gloves were on and she'd leave these like bleeding scratches. And then she'd get yelled at."

I rolled my eyes, finishing up with the ponytail and tying my mask around my face. Artemis came down the hall a second later, M'gann floating next to her. The Bioship woke, flipping around and expanding from its former egg-shape until it was fully formed. There was no speaking as we ascended the ramp, a tension settling over every single member of the team. Once we lifted off, there was no turning back.

M'gann laid her hands on the Bioship's controls, face grave, "takeoff in five, four, three…"

* * *

 **BAYOU BARTHOLOMEW**

 _ **October 1, 18:52 CDT**_

* * *

An uneasy silence had fallen over the Bioship in the half-hour we had been flying, a common anxiety drifting around the little cabin like a constant hum. The only noise was Wally was chewing on a banana he had pulled out of god-knows-where, and the soft grating noise of what was basically an industrial nail file as I sat and sharpened my claws. I was watching the back of Dick's head as he fidgeted, and when he counted his birdarangs for the fourth time in ten minutes, Kid broke the silence, "what's in the duffle?"

I followed his gaze to an inconspicuous, army green duffle bag that was tucked underneath Kaldur's chair. I regarded the Atlantean warily, pausing halfway down a claw. His voice was both grave and decisive, "Plan B."

Before I could interrogate him on just what Plan B was, M'gann whimpered in pain, hand flying to her forehead. Connor was the first to speak, plain concern practically dripping from his voice, "you alright?"

"Dizzy," she said quietly, dragging her hand down her face.

"Martians get airsick?" Rob asked.

"She does look a bit greener than usual," Kid pointed out, face drawn in concern.

"Not me," M'gann said, "Her."

Artemis and I exchanged a weird look, speaking at the same time;

"I feel fine."

"I'm good."

"Not _her_ ," M'gann said, gesturing between the two of us, "the Bioship. She's trying to shield us but-"

The Bioship started to take a nosedive, going haywire as it plunged downwards. I grabbed onto my seat for dear life as it flipped over, righting itself too low over the river. From the front window I could see two figures as we flew past, one of which was most definitely Count Vertigo. A string of curses flew from my mouth, " _fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckshitnofuck_!"

A huge force slammed into the bottom of the ship, sending us tumbling through the air in a way that reminded me of the time I had rolled a Maserati across four lanes of traffic on a busy Beijing highway. We hit what felt like water with a shocking amount of force, and a white-hot pain burned down my neck as a muscle in it decided to mutiny. As we finally, finally came to a stop, a thunk from the outside of the ship alerted us to yet more danger as we were tugged deeper into the water.

A large tearing noise came from above, and Black Adam's ridiculously creepy face peered down at us, teeth bared as he tore through the Bioship. M'gann yelped, hands flying to her head, "he's hurting her!"

Connor was out of his chair before any of us could move, driving a fist into Black Adam's jaw. As we rocked back, water started to pour into the cabin and Artemis shook her head as she grabbed a rebreather from her belt, " _no_. No way I'm nearly drowning _three_ missions in a row."

Dick slipped under the water next to me, and I fumbled for my own rebreather, the roar of the water pounding in my ears. Artemis held one out to the chronically unprepared Wally, and his face softened, "wow. Uh, thanks."

I rolled my eyes, "can you two stop flirting and hurry the hell up?"

As I slipped my rebreather into my mouth, Superboy grabbed M'gann by the shoulder, "We need to get out, open a hatch!"

She slapped herself on the forehead, "hello Megan! Of course."

She swam downwards as the water rose above our heads, opening a hole in the bottom of the Bioship. A mindlink bloomed viciously in between all of us, carrying Kaldur's voice, " _out! Everyone out!_ "

We took turns escaping through the hole, entering the dark water of the Bayou. It didn't take long to surface, and we rose out of the Bayou as a unit, stumbling into a section of the forest only to watch the Bioship get yanked underwater by the thick tendrils of Ivy's plant. "She's in shock," M'gann said, panting, "she'll need time to recover."

A blast of pain knocked me off my feet, alongside everyone else, and Wally's voice filled my ears, "Vertigo!"

" _Count_ Vertigo to you, peasant," the man snarled, and I managed to lift myself up onto my forearms, the splitting pain making tears blur my vision. Superboy rose to tackle him, but Black Adam practically materialized out of nowhere, slamming him back into the ground. The pain was mercifully ceasing, and Kaldur pulled out his waterbearers, sending a wave of water rushing towards Vertigo.

Kaldur's voice flew across the mindlink, " _Robin, Catgirl, Miss Martian, disappear. We will keep them busy, you three fulfill the mission objective_."

A deep-seated sense of wrong ached in my chest at the thought of abandoning them, but I did as we were told and slipped into the shadows alongside Rob. I couldn't breathe, and I felt too-light, like I hadn't eaten properly all day or something. We were in so far over our heads we might as well be in freaking Atlantis. I felt like a little kid who lost their parent in a grocery store, scared, alone, and desperately wishing for some kind of authority to take over and help. I took a second to lean against a tree trunk, hands laid over my eyes as I breathed. I tried to visualize the blood in my veins being swapped for ice water, retreating as deep into myself as I needed to be to deal with this. There were cities to protect, lives at stake if we didn't complete this mission. The panic subsided with ease, and when I opened my eyes I found M'gann's face hovering in front of me, " _that was creepy levels of compartmentalizing_."

" _I've been practicing my whole life_ ," I said dryly, following Dick as he trudged through the dark, already tapping away at his holo-computer. I could sense his tension through the mindlink, but there wasn't really a constructive way to deal with it at the moment so I watched it fester uneasily. Knowing him, he'd bottle it up and let it build until after the mission was over, opting to let it out in the relative privacy of Wayne Manor.

I sped up a little, coming to walk at his side. He turned slightly towards me, not taking his eyes off the holographic map floating above his arm, " _I'm using Zatara's intel to try and pinpoint their location_."

Absentmindedly I popped a fresh pill, senses re-expanding as it took effect. The smell of something indescribably awful filled my nose and I wrinkled it, " _we're definitely headed in the right direction_."

M'gann piped up from my left, " _what makes you say that_?"

The tiniest of shivers ran down my spine, " _that plant, it smells terrible. Like it's rotting_."

Her head-voice was bright, " _isn't that good?_ _Maybe it's dying_."

" _No_ ," I said, " _that's how Ivy's plants smell. It's not like they're dying rotting, it's like autumn-smell rotting. I can't describe it, but trust me it's distinctive_."

" _This way_ ," Rob said, taking a sharp turn even further into the underbrush. I swept away the last vestiges of my fear, taking a deep breath and following him further into the dark.

* * *

" _I've lost contact with Aqualad and the others,_ " M'gann noted, above our heads in camouflage mode as a scout. " _Should we-_ "

Rob cut her off, " _sorry, that's not the gig._ " He drew away a large piece of foliage, revealing what looked to be a giant, dome-shaped greenhouse.

An eerie green light glowed from within it, and I couldn't help a shiver racing down my spine. M'gann's impassioned voice filled my head, " _but what if they need us? We can't just abandon the rest of the team_."

" _That's not what we're doing,_ " I said, attempting to comfort her, " _we'll go back for them as soon as we get this place shut down. But until then, it's our mission and Kaldur's orders to do what we came here to do. There are civilians out there who need us, the rest of the team, including Connor, can take care of themselves_."

I just barely caught the hint of a blush through her camouflage, " _I'm not saying it because of Connor-_ "

" _If my boyfriend was in trouble, I'd be worried about him too,_ " I said, stopping her, " _but the boy's like over six feet of pure, bulletproof, super-strong muscle. I think he'll be fine. Try and keep some professionalism about you t_ _wo_ _, before Bats gives you a lecture on letting personal attachments get in the way of the mission_."

She was definitely blushing now, and Rob rolled his eyes, " _anyway, this is the Injustice League Central Control System._ " His voice grew a little smug as he spoke, obviously pleased with himself, " _looks like that plant is acting as an antenna to control the other plants worldwide._ "

A slow rumble came from under our feet, and just as the three of us whipped around, Poison Ivy's drawling voice floated through the air, "well hello there." Giant tendrils exploded out of the ground, wrapping around each of us like boa constrictors. I could barely breathe, kicking fiercely as the plant squeezed my ribs. A loud thump came from where Ivy was standing, and I looked back at her to see Ultra-Humanite standing there with his gun pointed at our heads. Ivy's voice was self-satisfied, "and goodbye."

M'gann's eyes glowed green for a moment, and before I could register what was happening, Ultra-Humanite yanked his gun arm down and fired at the plants holding us.

We didn't waste a second, dashing back towards the dark safety of the forest as soon as we were free. Ivy raised her arms above her head as I darted past her, "sorry Boy Wonder, I'm putting an end to your little _reconnaissance_ mission."

As Dick dodged vines stabbing out at him, I wheeled right back around, "like hell."

As I struck out at her, Ivy took up a smirk, " _Catgirl_ , tell me, how's your mother doing? It's been so long, maybe I should pay her a little visit."

I growled in response, managing to deal her a solid kick in the chest. All her plants exploded at once as M'gann flew back towards us, seemingly done with Ultra-Humanite, " _Robin, Catgirl, she's made contact_."

" _Artemis_?" Robin questioned, and we both looked up towards the sky as a loud hum approached. A large, glowing, orange cage floated over and past us.

M'gann's voice was a little smug, " _no_."

The Bioship materialized out of thin air, slamming into the top of the cage. It dissolved immediately, and we took off running towards the Central Control System as the sound of the rest of the Team starting a fight filled the air. We bypassed the door and headed straight for the roof. Curling an arm around Robin's shoulders, I let him tug us up to where the plant was using his grappling hook. Handing giant stacks of explosives to M'gann and I, the three of us got to work covering every single inch of the plant in them.

Less than a minute later, the plant was entirely dotted with little red explosives. A shout from below prompted me to smack Rob in the shoulder, "hurry up!"

We crouched down as the explosives started to beep, the little red lights switching to green smiley faces as a wave of fire and general air pressure tore through the plant. Standing slowly, we took in the fight below us, Ivy's horrified face the closest thing I could see. Rob crossed his arms, "timber."

I couldn't help a sharp laugh, tempered quickly as Ivy screamed, " _no_!" She flung her arms out at us, a tangle of vines shooting out from the ground towards the roof. M'gann flew forwards, psychically ripping the plant to shreds.

A sudden beam of light from behind us hit her, and she went spiralling through the air as Robin and I whipped around. The Joker and Atomic-Skull stood there, and clown-face himself spoke raspily, "children. _Children_ foiled our plan?" Another beam came from Atomic-Skull and we ducked as Joker continued to monologue, "inconceivable, unacceptable! _Retributionable_!" His face screwed up a little, "that last one might not be a word. So sue me."

Rob ran down off the roof to M'gann's side, and I tried to take in the chaos around me. Atomic-Skull sent another beam at us, sending us running. Ultra-Humanite roared at Superboy and Wolf, only for Black Adam to swoop down and grab Connor by the neck and throw him into a tree. Vertigo stalked towards Artemis, forcing her to the mud with his waves, Kid growled out a "leave her alone" before being hit solidly in the back by a blast from Wotan, whose booming voice filled the glade, "enough!"

I veered a little to the left as Rob reared back, sending birdarangs Wotan's way to no avail. The smoke cleared, revealing a force shield, and in retaliation, the sorcerer sent blasts of light towards all of us. The blasts were paralyzing, I could hardly even breathe as the pain seemed to radiate from every single nerve ending in my body. I had no idea what was happening until the pain suddenly stopped, the first words I heard being "the Helmet of Fate…"

I rolled over to see Kaldur standing there, poised with the helmet held over his head. Wally yelled, hand stretched out in utter horror, "no Aqualad, don't!"

Black Adam swiftly punched him in the face, and Superboy punched Black Adam, and all I could do was sit there and watch as Aqualad slipped on the helmet, replaced by Doctor Fate in a flash of golden light.

I rushed to Wally's side, helping him to stand as he took in the sight, "ah, _dude_."

Doctor Fate's voice was louder than thunder, "WOTAN, YOU ARE MINE."

I didn't stop to take in whatever devastation he was wreaking, eyes firmly attuned to where Joker stood above Rob with his pocket knife drawn, deepening his voice to mock Doctor Fate, "Wonder Boy, you are mine."

I practically flew across the field as Joker slashed at Rob, whip uncoiling in my hand as I sent it towards him from behind. It wrapped around Joker's throat, and he came to a dead stop as I gave it a sharp yank. He just cackled, staring down Rob with crazed intensity, "I've always wanted to carve this bird…" He wheeled around to face me, "but I suppose I can settle for flaying the kitty cat!"

The whip suddenly became my detriment as he rushed towards me, knife gleaming in the dim light. I stumbled, spine coming to meet a tree trunk as I couldn't back up any further. Joker's breath was hot on my face, knife held to my throat. He chuckled, "tell me little kitty, what should I take first? That brazen little tongue of yours? Those pretty little eyes? Why not all the skin off your face?"

I was shaking, unable to do anything but stare into his eyes and hope to whatever gods that were up there that someone would help me. My prayers were answered that instant, when Dick's gloved hand tore the Joker off me. I crouched, coming back up to knee the green-haired man in the balls. As he groaned and cursed in pain, I darted off to the left, letting Rob send a birdarang flying towards him, knocking his knife a few feet away.

Shouting filled the air, and I tipped my head to realize that entirety of the Justice League was in the sky, a blast from Zatara incapacitating Wotan as they descended. The tattered remains of the Injustice League banded together, immediately circled by the League members, and I had never been happier.

Bats' steady voice was the most calming thing in the world, "it's over." I damn near cried when he spoke, the low, gravelly tone filling me with steady reassurance.

Vertigo and Co. raised their hands in surrender, and the Count glared at Batman, eyes positively venomous. "There will be another day."

"Another day?" Joker demanded, utterly unhinged at this point, " _another day_?! There won't be another day, not for any of us!" He laughed maniacally, raising his arms and twisting his gloved fingers like a puppet master.

Plants rose from the ground, spores popping up from them and releasing some sort of gas. Batman ran towards the him, "Joker Venom spores, don't breathe!"

I slapped a hand over my mouth as Bats punched Joker out, but before the gas started to spread Doctor Fate rose into the sky, "FEAR NOT," he raised his arms, forming a golden glowing ankh, all the gas spilling into it and disappearing "FATE HAS INTERVENED."

This wasn't good.

* * *

Villains now rounded up, the rest of the team and I faced Kaldur from one direction and the League faced him from the other. Wally strode forward, visibly upset, "what were you thinking?! How could you let him put on the helmet? Nabu will never release him now." The anger had seeped out of his voice, and instead he looked resigned and grieving, "Kaldur will be trapped inside Doctor Fate forever…"

A low hum filled the air, probably unnoticeable to everyone but Superboy and I. We both jumped, looking up and towards Doctor Fate. It grew higher and higher in pitch as Kaldur's hands drifted upwards, and just as I was about to shout for everyone to get down, he lifted off the helmet. The Doctor Fate garb disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Kaldur standing there, quite serious, with just the faintest hint of a haunted look in his eyes.A beat passed before a slow smile crept over Wally's face, his voice awe-filled, "Nabu let you go?"

"He almost did not," Kaldur said, voice steady and calm like he hadn't just come to face to face with the nearly one hundred percent likelihood of having his body snatched until he was as old as Mr. Nelson had been, "but your friend Kent was most helpful." The Atlantean's voice took on a casually playful tone, "he says hello."

Wally grinned up at him, but the happiness slipped off his face as Batman's rough voice filled the air, "we're done here." We all turned to him, his face cold and severe as he regarded us, "the supervillain society has been neutralized. As for _your_ performance…" he let the words hang in the air for a second, and the seven of us stood there, ankle-deep in the Bayou, splattered in mud. Tension hummed in the air, and I couldn't shake the feeling that I was trapped in Schrodinger's box. Bruce's face was as grave as ever as he opened his mouth again, "it was satisfactory."

We immediately shared grins of relief, and I couldn't help a little swell of pride blooming in my chest. By some miracle, we had done it. We had faced down a team of supervillains who had given League members more than a headache by themselves, and come out on the other side victorious. Even if we had had a little help.

I turned to the others, "who's ready to go home?"

* * *

 **MOUNT JUSTICE**

 _ **October 2, 00:03 EST**_

* * *

Despite the fact that we were all freshly showered, attended to medically, debriefed, and there was absolutely no reason to stick around, the entirety of the team was crammed on the couch in the living room of the Cave.

Wally had been given the most room due to his brand-new cast, which he had demanded we all sign. He was leaned against the right armrest, Artemis sitting criss-cross over his legs. M'gann was on Connor's lap on the center cushion, legs draped over Artemis. Kaldur sat off to the left with Rob shoved in next to him, half-sitting on the couch, half on the armrest, and I had draped myself over the back of the couch, one arm resting on Dick's shoulder for balance. We had been cycling through shitty made-for-TV movies, currently waiting for the pizza place to text Wally's phone so he could go run and pick it up.

The main character and her love interest had just cleared up all the miscommunication from the climax of the movie, and the camera started panning out as they kissed. A familiar tune started to play as the credits rolled, and I practically sprang up off the couch as it picked up, "I love this song!"

Artemis wrinkled her nose, "isn't it from Tom and Jerry?"

I gasped in fake indignation, "how dare you, this is Louis Jordan."

I walked to the front of the couch, moving the coffee table aside with my foot as I tugged Artemis off the couch. She stumbled as she came to stand and I spun her to the music. Her voice was unamused, "I can't dance, Arabella."

"No such thing," I said with a shake of my head, grabbing her forearms. "Just move."

I glared at Connor, who promptly set M'gann on the ground and grabbed her hand, pulling her in to dance. The tell-tale splotches of pink on her cheeks told me I had done my job well. Turning back to Artemis, I hummed quietly underneath my breath as I guided her through some basic steps.

 _Is you is or is you ain't my baby?_

 _The way you're acting lately makes me doubt._

 _Youse is still my baby, baby._

 _Seems my flame in your heart's done gone out._

I feigned an epiphany as I wheeled her a little closer to the couch, "you know, I think our problem is that I'm too short. You need a partner who's closer to your height." I tugged at the collar of Wally's shirt, "come help."

In seconds I had swapped myself for Wally, settling his good hand on her waist as I twirled past them. I landed on the now half-vacant couch, legs coming to rest over Kaldur and Rob's laps, "our work is done."

They looked up at the two couples, M'gann resting solidly against Connor's chest happily as he smiled down affectionately at her, and both Wally and Artemis were blushing, fumbling their way through a basic jazz square, but they were laughing with each other. Kaldur grinned down at me, "good job, _A_ _gapía_."

The Atlantean stuck out like a sore thumb, and I cocked my head at him, "what does that mean?"

He frowned, "I don't think it's quite translatable. It's a term of endearment an older brother might use for a little sister. 'Sweetheart' is close, I think? Or perhaps 'my dear one'?"

I smiled up at him, "aww, thanks Kal. What do little sisters call their older brothers?"

" _Prostós_ is very common, it would literally translate to protector or guard, but it doesn't quite capture the full meaning."

I nodded, "I think I get it." I could almost taste the feeling, the quiet sense of safety Kaldur or Roy made me feel. Roy. Who was gone and probably mad at me, I was sure as hell mad at him.

Rob seemed to sense my dip in mood, and he tapped my foot, "why don't I get a cool term of endearment?"

I rolled my eyes, "you've never randomly given me one in a foreign language." He wiggled his eyebrows, spitting something out in what vaguely sounded like Arabic. I screwed up my nose at him, "you know I hate it when you do that."

"Do what?" he asked, feigning innocence.

My voice was deadpan, "start speaking in one of our non-overlap languages."

Kaldur raised an eyebrow at the exchange, "what are you two speaking of?"

I pouted up at him, "when we started training together, my mom got us to write down every language the two of us could think of off the top of our heads in a list. She drew a line halfway through and told us to learn a half each."

He looked impressed, "and what was the purpose of this exercise? How far down the list are you?"

"I'm a little faster than Boy Wonder over here, so I know French, Spanish, Italian, Greek, and a little bit of Russian. Which is like a quarter of the way down my half. She thought that additional languages would be helpful superheroing-wise, and wanted us to be more _cultured_ , and we're supposed to switch halves at the end. But it makes way more sense for us to learn different halves because when we're together we'll have all our bases covered."

"That is so not fair," Dick protested, sunglasses slipping down his nose a little, "you got all the romantic languages, once you've learned one you've practically learned them all. _And_ you didn't need to learn the alphabet."

" _Anyway_ ," I said, teasing him by glossing over that, "Dick likes to randomly speak in languages I can't understand. _Especially_ to Bats, and I never have any idea of what he's calling me."

"Like you and Cat don't have casual conversations in French all the time," he shot back.

"I think this started with you two trying to come up with nicknames for each other," Kaldur said gently, an amused grin on his face.

"Yeah," Dick said brightly, "hurry up _Ya Amar_."

"Wait, the hell does-" I tried to wrap my tongue around the word, "yah kah-mar mean?" The pronunciation was clumsy, but it was a solid attempt.

He grinned at me from behind his sunglasses, "wouldn't you like to know?"

"Fine then, maybe _ma puce_ for you? You're as annoying as a flea." I paused for a second, a particular term of endearment sticking in my head, "no, _ma moitié_ is better."

Now it was his turn to frown, "what's that?"

I copied his earlier grin, "wouldn't you like to know?"

His phone was already in his hand, "I could totally just google it."

I bit the inside of my cheek, for some reason that seemed like an awful idea, "then I could google whatever the hell you said earlier."

He seemed to hesitate too, and I wondered what awful thing he had called me in Arabic, but the credits drew to a close, cutting off Louis Jordan while they were at it, and a commercial for a Slam-Chop started playing. Connor and M'gann seemed to realize just how affectionate they were being in front of us, springing apart, and Wally and Artemis were already starting to argue again. Mercifully, Wally's phone alerted him that our pizza was waiting and he zipped out of the room before they could really get into it.

I snatched up the remote, flicking through the channel guide until I hit a new movie, determined never to bring up the conversation again lest Dick actually follow through on that threat. As soon as the movie started to actually play, Wally came back, carrying four pizza boxes.

We handed slices around, reserving two of the boxes for Wally. I taught M'gann how to do cheers with pizza, and we all cracked jokes throughout the shitty Cinderella retelling. Halfway through the 'ball' scene, it hit me that I was ridiculously happy. We were all smiling and laughing and in one piece, even after everything that happened today. I peered around in the half-darkness, trying to commit every single detail to perfect memory. I never wanted to forget it, the rare grin on Artemis' face as she teased Wally, M'gann and Connor's hands, 'sneakily' intertwined between them, the gentle smile on Kaldur's face, the way Rob's hair was sticking up everywhere. I couldn't shake a sense of dread, like this was the beginning of some kind of end.

* * *

 **GOTHAM**

 _ **October 4, 12:23 EST**_

* * *

As I approached our magnolia tree, I noted with annoyance that Dick's friends were spending lunch with him, Babs, and I today. She was already sitting there, looking rather annoyed. Dick's friends were a necessary evil, integral to him maintaining his SID as Bruce Wayne's somewhat spoiled adopted child. Some of them were even pleasant, but the majority were skirt-chasing idiots who gave me the insane urge to fling myself off the nearest tall structure.

As I came within eyesight, Cameron — my favourite of the bunch, started to wave at me, "Arabella!"

I waved back with a grin, and the whole group turned to face me. Dick had brought the entire pack of boys he hung out with, the eight of them all equally popular and rich. Settling in on the grass next to Babs, I smiled at Cameron, "how was your summer? I can't believe we don't have any classes together this year."

He grinned back at me, blonde hair glowing in the afternoon sun, "pretty good, my sister got married in Greece so I got to go travel over there for like a month and a half."

"Lucky," I whistled, Cameron and I shared a deep and appreciative love for both the Greek classics and mythology, and his mother ran the Gotham Gallery of Art and Antiquities.

A British voice floated over from the crest of the hill our magnolia sat on, "Arabella?"

Will and two of his friends appeared. He was in his usual state of 'I'm-trying-too-hard-to-look-like-I'm-not-trying-too-hard', blazer ditched somewhere in preference to just his shirt, the sleeves rolled up and tie too loose around his neck. I rolled my eyes, "what do you need?"

He adopted an expression of mock offense, "why do you assume I need something? Can't I just want to spend some time in the company of one of my dearest friends?" He spotted one of Dick's friends on his approach, all humour draining from his face as the two of them took each other in, "Covington."

The boy he was glaring at glared right back up at him. What was his name? Nathan? Nate? _Nathaniel_. I glanced between the two of them, "Will, what do you want, get on with it."

"Well this fucker's head on a pike would be great, but secondary to that I want you to come to a party of mine."

I blinked at him, "like, tonight?"

He turned to me, the hard anger leaving his face once he laid eyes on me. He shook his head, "no, on the thirtieth. Really it's Jessi's party —" Nathaniel winced at her name, and if I wasn't going to interrogate someone about his and Will's apparent feud beforehand, I definitely was now. Will continued, "but since it's at my house, I'm a technical host. It's a Halloween party, so come in costume unless you want her to crucify you. Bring your friends if you want."

"And if I elect not to go?" I dared, trying to get his mind off Nathaniel.

He grinned as we fell into our usual banter, posture easing as he slid his hands into his pockets, "then Jessi'll have your head. She was going to invite you herself but I was in the area so I told her I'd do it. Glad I did that now," he turned back to Nathaniel, "I don't want you within ten feet of her, Covington." He looked over at Dick, "great company you keep, Boy Genius."

I tensed, the nickname so eerily similar to the standard for Robin I had to wonder if Dick's SID was compromised somehow. I forced myself to remain lighthearted if not a little disinterested as I probed into it, "clever nickname you got there."

Will snorted, "Grayson's in my AP Math, top of the class too. I'd say 'Boy Genius' suits, not that he has any common sense apparently."

"Okay," I said with an eye roll, "if you're done with insulting people, I will come to your Halloween party and bring all my hot friends."

He nodded, giving me one last parting grin before glaring at everyone else. Dick was speaking before I had the chance to, "what did you _do_ , Nathaniel?"

"I don't want to talk about it," the boy said stubbornly, taking a pull from his water bottle.

I raised an eyebrow, "you know Jessi Vasquez and I are good friends, right?"

"Then I really don't want to talk about it," he muttered, the tiniest hint of fear colouring his voice. Dick's boys knew not to fuck with me at this point, and his unwillingness to tell me what the hell was going on was only worsening my opinion of him.

Lunch passed awkwardly after that, Dick's group of boys leaving about halfway through. As soon as they were gone I whipped out my phone, hitting Jessi's contact as quickly as possible. She picked up on the third ring, "hello?"

I cut straight to the chase, "do you know someone named Nathaniel Covington?"

"Oh." Her voice was utterly dejected, deeply saddened in a way I had never heard her before. "Why, did you run into him?"

"Your oh-so-charming brother came to invite me to your Halloween party, and Nathaniel's a part of Dick's little posse of idiots he keeps around for no apparent reason." Rob immediately looked offended and I made a small concession, "except Cameron and Michael, they're gems. The rest can burn."

Babs cackled beside me, finally a little more lively now that the boys were gone, and Jessi spoke uncharacteristically quietly, "Nathaniel and I were seeing each other for a bit, I caught him with someone else and we broke up."

My face fell, "Jessi, I'm so, so sorry." Jessi got attached to people quickly, and once she deemed you worthy of her affection she cared about you fiercely. The girl had no concept of walls, she was all vulnerability, a real bleeding heart.

"Why? It's not like you had anything to do with it," she said.

"It's called empathy, you absolute loon. I'm bringing chocolate to Math for you tomorrow."

I could almost hear her smile through the receiver, "thanks Ari, I've gotta go, but I'll talk to you later."

"See you soon," I murmured, hanging up.

Before I could even set my phone down, Babs was interrogating me, "what was it, don't keep us in suspense."

My voice was quiet, "he cheated on her." Babs lost her enthusiasm immediately, and I turned to Dick, "I want him gone."

He raised an eyebrow, "I can't just cut him out of my life for no reason."

"I'm your reason," I said viciously, already envisioning the boy's nose breaking under my fist. I shook my head, "look I'm not asking you to stop talking to him altogether, that's not fair of me, but just know that the next time I see him sitting up here I'm going to break his face."

The bell sounded from the Academy, signalling to its students that it was time to get back to class. I didn't bother with more than a half-hearted goodbye to Dick and Babs, anger settling in under my skin. I couldn't believe that anyone would do that to Jessi, sweet, loving Jessi. Much less someone Dick would associate with.

Practically stomping into Townsend's class, I took my usual window seat, Artemis already sitting in her spot behind me. She raised an eyebrow as I took a seat, "who pissed in your cereal?"

I frowned, "you know my friend Jessi? You went to her recital."

"The pianist? What about her?"

I cast my gaze around the room, deeming it safe enough to murmur underneath my breath to her, "Rob hangs out with this guy who cheated on her."

"Wait," Artemis said slowly, "as in, like, he knows that the guy cheated on her? You still haven't explained why you look ready to put someone through a wall."

I glared at empty air, "we just found out now, I'm not mad at _him_ , I'm mad at the asshole who cheated on Jessi. I can't believe someone could hurt her like that, what kind of awful human being must he be? It's like if someone intentionally hurt M'gann."

Before Artemis could comment, Townsend pulled the class into order, "okay guys, I know we just got back from lunch but I need you to focus. We're starting Much Ado About Nothing today, so everyone grab a book."

I leaned down to whisper to Artemis as I got up to grab us copies, "I would eat his heart in the marketplace."

She snorted at the reference as I walked away, and the anger under my skin started to settle as my eyes settled over the familiar words of the play. Instead, it was converting itself into a deep, pure loathing. The next time I saw Nathaniel, it wasn't going to be pretty.

* * *

 **REVIEWS:**

 **Dawn Racer: Aww, thank you! I'm in love with Arabella too, I wish she was real so we could be best friends and she could give me advice.**

 **Guest: Thanks for being so nice with your criticism! Without giving too much away, I kind of consider this to be the starting point for Arabella's character. The season one arc of this story is mostly setting up who she is, establishing connections with other important/major characters, and getting ready for the real original writing that comes after, which I'm very excited for (you should see my outline.) Which brings me to my next point, and it's something that**

 ** _I REALLY WANT TO ADDRESS_**

 **(sorry, that was for all the people who scroll past responses to reviews because I want them to see this too,) and it's a concern that a lot of much less nice reviewers have had. Under absolutely no circumstances, will Arabella and Dick be getting together in the first arc of this story. My outline for this fic is huge, like it fills up a freaking duotang. Their romance is really more of a subplot for like, the entirety of the story, and it's pretty much the epitome of a slow burn. What happens in between point A and point B, I won't tell you, but just know that their relationship is _really_ complex and there's a point in the first arc (some of you might guess it) where it and the plot kind of take on a tonal shift that I'm sure you'll appreciate. And I promise I'm not trying to make Arabella Selina's mini-me, they share a lot of similar qualities but you'll see, especially as Arabella gets older, that they're different in a lot of ways too. **

**Awesomeness3013: Okay well first of all, I love that you binged this and I'm happy you like this enough to do that. And thank you! I really want Arabella to feel like she's a genuine part of the team, and not just shoehorned in because I felt like writing an OC insert. Sorry you had to wait so long on an update!**

 **The Midnight Angels: Thank you! I do too.**

 **SparkBomb'sFaith: Thank you for the compliment, and oh boy get ready to suffer on the them getting together bit. I think you'll really love the Failsafe chapter, I've been itching to write it since I began this story.**

 **Mikado X Goddess: Thank you! Sorry to make you wait! My answer to your question has to be spoilers, mostly, but yes Chalant is alive and well in this story.**

 **FanaticalFanatic: Yeah it definitely felt more organic to send her with Artemis and M'gann, especially with her 'women protect women' complex. I'm glad you think they fit together well, that's such a huge priority for me. I can't really comment on Zatanna's introduction because spoilers, but I promise it won't turn out like you think!**

 **Guest 2: Your point is mostly valid from the point of view the audience has. I would argue that it's hard for you to tell me whether something is or isn't in Arabella's character, but Arabella and Will's relationship isn't like that, and he knows that she'd know whether he was sneaking around trying to figure out her identity, and she'd never talk to him again/rain hellfire upon his existence. Please keep in mind that she and all the other superheroes have information on his illicit activities that could get him thrown in jail just like his dad. Also, that was intentional. Arabella lets her guard down around Tommy in a way she doesn't with other criminals. It may or may not come up later on, we'll see.**

 **The rest are mostly people asking me to change the ship, which isn't happening. I can't really say anything there except don't like, don't read. Simple as that. Also the Guest who called Connor and M'gann's relationship messed up can pry Supermartian from my cold, dead hands. See you next time!**


	15. Humanity

**Happy Easter everyone! And happy April Fools! (I promise this isn't a prank, it's a genuine chapter. Over 10,000 words too, so hopefully that makes up for my extended absence!)**

* * *

 **MOUNT JUSTICE**

 _ **October 9, 15:46 EST**_

* * *

It was a slow, quiet, NyQuil kind of evening in the Cave.

The boys were off doing something ridiculous together, and Artemis, M'gann, and I were sitting on the floor of the mission room reading. Artemis was picking her way through _Jane Eyre_ for English, I was on the last section of a book detailing the life of women in Athens during the height of Athenian culture, and M'gann was attempting to teach herself to french-braid out of an outdated issue of Seventeen Magazine.

I sat up as M'gann made a little huffy noise for the five millionth time, "you're using pieces that are too small."

She turned to me, utter bafflement on her face, "it says to use inch long strips."

"Well, it's lying to you," I said, ditching my book to scoot over to where she was sitting, "here, give me."

"Gimme, gimme never gets," Artemis deadpanned from where she was lying on her back, not even looking up from her book.

I flipped her off anyway, and dragged my hands through M'gann's hair a few times to take out the knots she had worked into it during her frustration. "You section off the top piece of your hair like this," I said, tugging on the layer of hair so she could feel how much I had sectioned off, "and then you do the motions of a regular three-strand braid once, and then you pick up bits. Tradition tells you to pick up hair and then cross it over, but I find it way easier to cross it over like a regular braid and then just pick up hair and do it again."

I demonstrated for her, braiding her hair back entirely and then letting her practice on me until she got the hang of it. Artemis had stopped reading about halfway through the process to watch amusedly, calling out little encouragements and pointers to M'gann like she was playing varsity football. When she finally managed to make a braid to 'Mis and I's satisfaction, she threw her arms around me with a squeal, "thank you Arabella!"

"Yes, well, while we're having this little moment of bonding, I have a favour I need to ask of you two," I said, letting M'gann settle into the crook of my neck.

"And what would that be?" Artemis asked, immediately suspicious.

I offered her my best grin, "can you guys come to Will-slash-Jessi's Halloween party with me on the thirtieth?"

Artemis' voice was horrified, "you want me to go _where_?"

"Jessi's Halloween party," I said, rolling my eyes, "calm down 'Mis, it's not like I'm asking you to go on a suicide mission with me."

M'gann's voice was bright, "I'll go! My first highschool party, can you imagine?"

I couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm. Watching M'gann navigate everyday human activities was like watching a little kid at Disney World. I turned on Artemis, dialling the puppy dog eyes up to a ten, " _please_ Artemis?"

She crossed her arms, looking thoroughly annoyed, "you're forgetting one thing."

"And what is that?"

"I don't know how to dance."

I blinked at her before bursting into laughter. This only served to annoy her even more, and I forced myself to calm down, little giggles still escaping me. She actually looked pretty grave about the whole situation and I cocked my head at her, "wait, are you serious?"

"I really can't!" she said, cheeks puffed out in irritation.

M'gann smiled at Artemis, "I haven't been taught as to how humans dance either, but Arabella's a dancer! I'm sure she can teach us."

I felt my face soften, and I grinned at the both of them as warmly as humanly possible, "I can most definitely teach you both to dance."

Artemis had never looked so annoyed as I pulled my phone out of my back pocket, shaking M'gann off me to stand up. I looked down to address the two of them, but mostly M'gann, "you won't need to know like, genuine, formal dance for this party. We have a more casual form of dancing for regular parties and stuff. You pretty much just move to the beat of whatever's playing, which because we're going to a white, rich-person party is mostly going to be in four-four time, which sounds like this." I stomped out the rhythm of something in four-four time, "the preferred method of movement is usually jumping or bopping to the beat, with little twists for flair."

I demonstrated both of the concepts for them, teaching them how bending their knees slightly and coming back up made an enjoyable, bouncy movement. M'gann laughed, and even Artemis looked a little less annoyed with the whole situation. Our lesson was interrupted as Wally's amused voice floated over from the entrance way to the mission room, "what are you doing, you crazy person?"

I probably did look more than a little strange, making weird dancing movements for seemingly no reason to no music. I waved at them happily, "I'm teaching Artemis and M'gann to dance, because I'm conscripting you all to come to Will and Jessi's Halloween party with me."

"Are you now?" Dick asked with a grin, and he settled against the wall, "I might videotape this for future blackmail."

"Well," I said with an eye roll, "does anyone else feeling like sticking around for less nefarious reasons?"

Kaldur smiled, "I think I'll watch, from what I can tell dance is quite similar to Atlantis on the surface, but you're the resident expert." Wally and Superboy made similar noises of acceptance, and I shrugged before turning back to Artemis and M'gann.

I pointed at 'Mis ponytail, "let your hair down."

She frowned, "do what now?"

"Take your ponytail out," I said, tugging my own hair loose from M'gann's braid in demonstration. It settled over my back, the gentle weight of it pleasantly reassuring.

"Why the hell would I do that?" she asked, voice dry.

"Because feeling your hair move around is like, half the fun. Also the pun is too good." She let her hair loose with an annoyed groan, and it settled around her shoulders and framed her face perfectly. I couldn't hold back a little grin as Wally sucked in a breath behind me, the boy had it _bad_.

"Good, now," I scrolled down through my library until I found a song that was suitably upbeat for my purposes and the kind of genre likely to be played at this party. I hit play and set my phone down at a safe distance, "we begin."

I tugged at Artemis as the song kicked into full swing, forcing her to bob up and down with me. She finally acquiesced, and I moved back so she and M'gann could observe me like one might a yoga instructor. I threw myself into the song as the chorus came on, jumping and twisting my feet and rolling my hips. M'gann caught on quickly, mimicking me perfectly, and as the second verse came on I popped over to the boys so they could join in on our little dancing fest.

Tugging them into the circle, I saw that Dick was in fact recording us for later use. I stuck my tongue out at him, dancing with him for the first two bars of the verse. He laughed, pointing his cellphone camera at me as I sang at him, grabbing his free hand to spin myself around. I shifted to dance with Kaldur, and while he had been a little awkward, my help smoothed out the roughness to his movements as he adjusted to moving like this out of water.

The song slowed for the first bridge, and I danced over to M'gann to show her how to move when it was so slow. She caught on just as quickly as before, and I handed her off to Connor, who was, in a surprise twist, actually goodnaturedly trying his best.

I danced with Dick as the song hit it's slowest, spinning back towards everyone else as the song jumped back into its new chorus. Wally was giving Artemis heart eyes, and she looked just as in love with him as the two of them danced kind of off by themselves to make room for his cast. The entire team was laughing as we danced around like crazy people, and as the song petered out, it switched into Accidentally in Love by Counting Crows.

Artemis wrinkled her nose, yelling a little over the music, "why do you have a song from Shrek on your phone?"

"Hey!" I said, pointing my finger at her, "this is a freaking 2000s bop, we can gloss over the Shrek bit."

I spun her into Wally's arms as the first line was sung, and we kept going through Accidentally in Love, and I showed our less human friends songs like Sugar We're Goin' Down, and Misery Business, and Don't Stop Believing and just about every other song I could think of that filled me with nostalgia.

In the end, we were all lying on the floor in a heap of sweaty, tangled limbs, giggling amongst ourselves like the teenagers we kind of were. Wally's voice came from the other end of the dogpile, "who wants to go get food?"

* * *

 **MOUNT JUSTICE**

 _ **October 10, 16:58 EST**_

* * *

I ducked under Connor's legs, grabbing his ankle on the way out to trip him to the ground. I was admittedly not giving the fight my one-hundred percent, instead opting to observe as Captain Marvel waited on Wally hand and foot.

His ridiculous enthusiasm to be doing such a thing was almost childlike in its intensity, and I would have thought he was faking it if being Wally's personal slave wasn't entirely voluntary. He had dragged in an armchair for Kid to kick back in, so he could 'observe' the spars even though he was injured. This had devolved into Wally playing video games and eating while everyone else sparred, and I couldn't help but feel as though Captain Marvel was getting taken advantage of somehow.

He zipped off to go get Wally some nachos as Artemis got a truly great throw in on Robin, sending him careening into the ground with a fierce grin on her face. Black Canary smiled, approaching our spars with that smooth, steady walk she had mastered. Her voice was low and calm, "good work everyone. In fact, it's been a very productive week."

Connor and I slowed alongside everyone else, the spars drawing to a close, and Artemis turned to look at Wally, "yeah, for everyone except _Kid Malingerer_."

"Ooh, fantastic word choice," I said, pitching my voice down in imitation of Townsend's.

We shared a high-five as Wally looked thoroughly taken aback, " _hey_ , arm broken in combat against the Injustice League here."

He waved the offending appendage in the air, and a soft smile bloomed across Dinah's face as she chuckled, "I've really enjoyed being your, uhh," her eyes dipped down as she searched for the right word, "den mother this week." Of course she had, Dinah's favourite activity was nurturing, right up there with psychoanalyzing people.

Before I could tell her that we liked having her around too, Glados' voice boomed out, " _recognized; Zatara, One-One_." We turned as one to watch Zatara appear in a burst of golden light, and he utterly ignored us in favour of swiping a hologram keyboard into existence. As he tapped away, Glados spoke again, " _access granted. Zatanna Zatara, A-Zero-Three. Authorization: Zatara One-One._ "

I practically lit up like a Christmas tree. Zatara had said something about bringing his kid around to introduce her, and I had been excited about it all week. She appeared in the same burst of light, and I took a moment to assess her. She looked like she was about my age, dressed in some kind of private school uniform that was perfectly ironed and arranged neatly about her. She was a little taller than me, and probably about half an inch taller than Dick, and had a pretty lean stature. Her hair was a glossy black, kept in an immaculate side part, and she had sharp blue eyes that were just a little less pigmented than Rob's. She was wearing makeup, from what I could tell, and I really wanted her to teach me how she did her eyebrows because they were _flawless_.

Zatara stepped forward, shooting her a reassuring smile, "Zatanna, this is the Team," he turned to us, "Team, my daughter, Zatanna."

She approached warily, steps slow and cautious, and she almost looked like she was trying to analyze us, right hand reaching up to grab her left elbow in a protective stance that still remained passive. M'gann flew over to her, voice filled with all the cheeriness of a tour guide, "hi! I'm —"

Dick cut her off, jumping in front of M'gann with a yell, "Robin!" He cleared his throat, holding his hand up in a stationary wave and pitching his voice down in the way he usually did around girls he was trying to hit on, "I mean, _I'm_ Robin." He turned to us a little, "uh — and that's Wally, Artemis, Kaldur, Connor, and Arabella."

I waited until she wasn't looking at me to roll my eyes. _Teenage boys_. If it was like this with every new girl introduced to the Team, I was going to rip my eyeballs out. Kaldur smiled warmly at Zatanna, "welcome to the Cave."

Her voice was quiet when she spoke, and it had a lower pitch than I had been expecting, "uh, thanks."

Rob, much too loud in contrast, turned to her with a nearly manic grin, "so, uh, y-y-y-are you joining the team?" He stumbled and stuttered and I was torn between the utter annoyance burning in my chest and face-palming in second-hand embarrassment.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Zatara cut in, taking his top hat off, "this is strictly a visit." He turned to Dinah, "though I _am_ sorry we missed the training. It's something from which Zatanna could benefit."

I catalogued that bit of info, she wasn't a particularly good fighter, as I leaned forward to speak to her with a grin, "either way, we'd be glad to have you." She smiled back at me, and I took that as her opening up a little, "as Boy Wonder here mentioned in his truly stellar introduction, I'm Arabella, but feel free to nickname me if you find that to be a bit of a mouthful. I call myself Catgirl when I'm kicking bad guys in the face, so a lot of people call me Cat. Ara's popular too."

She extended her hand and I took it, and her voice was warmer when she spoke to me, "my friends call me Zee."

Zatara was still prattling on about parent-y stuff to Black Canary, and M'gann's eyebrows lowered as a sudden mindlink bloomed between us, " _do the rest of you get the impression we're still on probation with Zatara_?"

" _Not just Zatara,_ " Connor said, gesturing to Wally, " _I mean, why's Marvel still hanging around_?"

" _Because we_ like _having him around_ ," Wally said with a dopey expression.

Artemis turned to him, hands on her hips, eyes mischievous, "you _like having him around because he waits on you hand and foot_."

I made a 'that's what I said' face, and Wally raised his eyebrows at 'Mis, " _and your point is?..._ "

" _It almost makes one nostalgic for Red Tornado's tenure as our supervisor_ ," Kaldur said, crossing his arms.

" _Yeah,_ " Rob huffed, turning to Zatanna like she could hear him, " _at least he trusted us_."

" _If you ignore the fact that we shouldn't have trusted_ him _in the first place_!" Connor growled, hand flying up in an angry gesture, " _he was a traitor! That machine nearly got M_ —," he cut himself off, " _all of us_ killed!"

Zatanna suddenly caught my attention as stepped forward with a very angry face, "are you guys having a psychic conversation?" Her voice was coated in disbelief. Everyone turned to look at her, including the adults, and she cocked a hip, "'cause... I can't decide if that's _cool_ or... really rude." She had a point, but my hackles raised anyway, I felt chastised by someone I barely knew.

Before any of us could really react, Connor went and blew our cover, "alright _fine_ ," he said, like someone had been nagging him about it for hours, "we were talking about Tornado. It's been _weeks_ since his attack, and the League hasn't told us _anything_."

Dinah regarded him with the kind of cool patience adults had when they thought kids were making a fuss over nothing, "the League is searching for Red Tornado, as well as the androids who invaded the Cave, and their creator, T.O Morrow. Batman's made tracking them down our highest priority."

Dick looked frustrated, "but you've found none of the above!"

"Not yet," Dinah said, "but Tornado is Justice League, the Team is _not_ to pursue this."

"Ooh that was good, you should do the League's press conferences," I said sarcastically, resting a hand on my hip in a way that, annoyingly enough, I had picked up from her.

"Why don't you all take Zatanna on a, uh, tour of the Cave?" Zatara suggested weakly, obviously trying to pacify us.

I turned to where she had been standing next to Dick, only to find her a good few feet back laying against Wolf, who looked very content. Rob looked utterly baffled, and I realized someone had finally gotten the drop on him for once with a near-childlike glee.

She sat up as Wolf bounded towards Captain Marvel, who entered bearing a huge platter of nachos, "you're giving a tour? Cool!"

"Actually," Connor said, putting on his 'I'm-trying-to-seem-reasonable-and-smooth' voice, "I was hoping you'd take Wolf outside. He needs the exercise, we'll join you in a few!"

"Sure, sure," Cap said enthusiastically, nodding as he turned back around towards the back of the Cave, "I can do that. C'mon Wolf!"

I bit down a smile as Wally's face fell dramatically, "wh — wha — my nachos!" Connor, evidently done with his bullshit, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, and we followed behind as he dragged Kid towards the kitchen. Wally struggled and twisted his way out of Connor's grip, "watch it, you're wrinkling my shirt!"

Artemis and I fell into step with him, letting Dick and Kaldur catch up with Connor. She flicked a crumb from the corner of his mouth, "yes, because you're so concerned with how you present yourself."

"Says you, Miss-I-Wear-My-Suit-Twenty-Four-Seven," Wally huffed.

I rolled my eyes at his admittedly pathetic comeback, "given that we're literally superheroes, I think wearing her suit would actually be considered professional. Y'know, instead of dressing like a character from a 90s teen drama that got cancelled after two and a half mediocre seasons."

Artemis grinned over at me, and Wally narrowed his eyes in annoyance, "I'll have you know that the layering of shirts is a perfectly respectable personal style choice."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," I singsonged. Zatanna brushed past us wordlessly, and I had to gape at her as she came up next to Rob wearing entirely different clothes as before. Her uniform was replaced by a pair of white, cloth capris and a pastel purple tank-top.

Rob, bless his heart, also did a double-take as she fell into step at his side, "when did you — _how_ did you?"

She ignored the question, voice flat, sarcastic, and to my ears a little condescending, "we're not _really_ taking a tour are we?" I couldn't shake the resemblance to girls from the Academy, bored and looking for adventure. My enthusiasm towards her appearance was starting to deflate — there was no way Zatara's kid acted like your standard prep school girl.

Connor turned to us, coming to a stop, "no." His voice was harsh and angry, in direct contrast to the smooth, almost charming tone he had been using with Cap earlier, "we're hunting down that robot."

He turned a little towards Kaldur, like he was daring him to try stop this. Kaldur just nodded, face solemn, "yes. We are."

We turned as a group towards Zatanna, the obvious question hanging in the air. Would she stay, or did we take her with us and risk Zatara's wrath? He hadn't seemed overly eager to have her out in the field, much less on a manhunt for an android gone haywire and a crazed scientist. "Oh wow," she said dryly, "out loud and everything."

Despite my slowly building dislike, I had to appreciate the sarcasm. Artemis was more cautious, "what about new girl?"

Rob shrugged, using the kind of 'duh' tone mostly used by people trying to convince other people of something when they had no real evidence to support the statement, "I'm sure she won't tell."

Zatanna turned to him with a sly grin, voice low and conspiratorial, "I can't tell, not if you _kidnap_ me."

Artemis smiled one of her rare, genuine smiles, "oh, she's going to fit in great."

As much as I agreed with the sentiment, a small kernel of doubt niggled in my chest. Something about this girl was just... off. I couldn't put my finger on what exactly about her rubbed me the wrong way, but it was keeping me from throwing myself headfirst into my earlier excitement at her arrival.

I tried to understand it as we entered the Bioship and I was booted out of my usual seat between Artemis and Rob, he and Zatanna sitting down by each other so they could continue whatever conversation they had struck up while I wasn't paying attention. Irritation prickled away at me, and I let my eyes flicker around the cabin for a new spot when Kaldur called out to me, " _agapía_!"

A new seat had sprouted up next to him, it's presence messing with the layout of the cabin and sticking out like a sore thumb. I settled into it with a huff, feeling disoriented in the same way as when your teacher switches around the seating arrangement in class. As we lifted off, Dinah's voice came through an unseen speaker into the cabin, "M'gann, the Bioship wasn't authorized for departure."

"We're kidnapping Zatanna," M'gann said happily, mouth forming a little 'o' as she realized what she had just said, "to… uhh — show her Happy Harbour! Be back soon!"

"Roger that," Dinah said slowly, my stomach twisting as her suspicious-mom tone kicked into full gear, "uh, have fun."

I drew my knees up, trying to put my brain back on track towards what I had been thinking about before. I wasn't a fan of introspection, spending any kind of time poking around inside my own head made me feel ridiculously uncomfortable, but I wanted to understand my weird dislike of Zatanna so it could fuck off. Kaldur turned to me, speaking in slow, very, very antiquated Greek, " _are you worried about the new girl_?"

I felt a small smile tug at the corner of my mouth. It was clear that his knowledge of the language was cobbled together by whatever root words Atlantean had taken with it, and the brief study he had done of the language when I gave him untranslated versions of the classics. It was a sweet gesture, and I answered him in an admittedly more modern version, but as slowly as possible, " _no. I just... does she come off as strange to you_?"

His gaze flicked over to her for a brief moment, " _I am cautious of all new additions to the team, especially after Red Tornado. But I have faith, you must as well_."

" _I'm not concerned as to whether she's going to go and betray us or something_ ," I said stubbornly, " _she just seems… immature? I don't know how to describe it_."

We had apparently caught everyone else's attention, and Zatanna deadpanned from the other side of the cabin, "you guys sure love your secrecy. First psychic conversations, now foreign languages. What was that, Latin?"

"Greek," I said curtly, "Kaldur and I both love the classics."

She shook her head, "braver than I am, I _hate_ old books. Anything written before like, 1980, was a mistake."

Artemis caught my eye, and we shared a moment of pure agony before I turned back to Zatanna with a shrug, "there's some good stuff there if you can stick around long enough to parse through the older language."

I didn't mean for it to come out as a challenge, but it did and now she was glaring at me like I had just insulted her mother. Dick sent me a 'what-did-you-do-now' look, and I resisted the urge to throw my hands up in the air. He very rapidly changed the subject, angling himself towards M'gann, " _where_ are we going? Batman is the world's greatest detective, and he searched for Tornado and Morrow in every logical location. If we're gonna do better, we need an illogical solution." His eyebrows pinched together into his 'eureka!' expression, and he started to turn to face Wally with a smile, "a — a truly _dumb_ idea."

We all twisted in our seats towards KF, who at first looked kind of put out, but he slipped into his usual attempt at cool confidence, "as a matter of fact…"

* * *

 **BELLE REVE**

 _ **October 10, 18:35 CDT**_

* * *

M'gann leaned across the table like a detective in _Law & Order_, "Warden Strange owed us a favour for stopping last month's prison break. He's given us five minutes with you."

Connor's arms were crossed as he spoke from M'gann's side, "spill Ivo! How do we find T.O Morrow and his Reds?!"

"Now why in the world would I know how to find Morrow?" Ivo asked innocently, his typical too-high voice making me want to pitch him through a window.

"Because," Kid said, stepping towards Ivo with a swagger, "and here's a truly dumb idea. You're Morrow's biggest competitor in the evil android game. Who better to keep track of what he's up to, and where?"

"Ah, I see your point," Ivo said, clasping his hands together, "so let me rephrase. Why in the world would I _tell you_ how to find Morrow?"

Kaldur strode forwards to stand next to M'gann, regarding her gravely, "he knows. Do what you must."

She nodded, turning back to face Ivo, her eyes glowing as she presumably did some kind of mind-whammy thing. He braced himself against the table with a laugh, leaning back in his chair, "oh please. As if I've never faced a telepath before."

Zatanna practically materialized next to Ivo, planting one hand on the desk and the other on the back of his chair. Leaning toward him menacingly, a mess of backwards words spilled from her mouth, " _Trulb tuo S'worrom eurt noitacol_!"

Ivo jerked up in his chair, speaking so fast I could barely catch it, "Morrow's in a secret underground base beneath Yellowstone National Park, one-hundred meters south of Old Faithful."

My jaw dropped alongside everyone else in the room, including Ivo. _The hell?_ A sudden thought pierced me — if Zatanna could compel _anyone_ to tell the truth whenever she wanted, that meant none of my secrets were safe. I didn't even have the assurance of M'gann's eager desire to adhere to earthly customs. Sure she could rifle through my brain telepathically, but I trusted M'gann with my life. There was no way in hell she would _ever_ do that without my permission. But Zatanna? I didn't trust her as far as I could throw her, and now there seemed like there was bad blood between us. She had been coldly civil to me ever since our kind-of argument in the Bioship. Paired with the general sense of discomfort she had been causing me ever since she entered the Cave, I was _scared_.

I snapped out of it as Ivo reeled back, slapping his hands over his mouth, "wait — what just happened?!"

"I could damn well ask the same thing," I muttered, and a distinct feeling of dread settled in the pit of my stomach.

* * *

Safely seated next to Kaldur again, the pinch of anxiety in my chest had me leaning towards him as he addressed us. His voice was steady and calming, and I had the urge to lean my head against his shoulder for comfort. That was absolutely not something I could do on a mission, but the whim teetered at the edge of my brain. It made me miss Roy, with his assertive personality and big-brother air. Kaldur turned to M'gann a little, "lock out all external communication. Soon Canary and Zatara, Batman too I imagine, will know of our… visit with Professor Ivo. We haven't much time."

"Look," Dick said nervously, tugging a little at the collar of his suit, "I'm trying to be all nonchalant here —"

"Why?" Zatanna asked teasingly, "be as chalant as you like."

Rob looked floored, a slow smile creeping over his face at her backwards formation. His joy made me happy, but there was a hint of an emotion I couldn't riddle out tucked into the smirk on Zatanna's face, and it was making me uneasy. Artemis spoke calmly, "I think we're all just trying to get a handle on your powers. Could you teleport us to Tornado? Or Morrow to a cell? Or force his bots to surrender?"

"Or create peace on earth for all time?" Zatanna snarked, " _Zatara_ couldn't even do all that, and I'm nowhere near on my dad's level." Her voice grew more serious, and I wondered if this was a soft spot for her, "I need to know a spell cold. Or else have time to prep it. Plus all magic requires energy, which usually has to come from within. I just can't make the impossible happen at will."

Connor spoke up from where he was slumped forward in his seat, voice angry, "what's our ETA to Yellowstone? I'm _way_ past ready to stuff Tornado into a trash compactor."

"Are you so certain he betrayed us?" Kaldur asked, tone utterly serene in comparison.

"Aren't you?!" Superboy demanded, whipping around in his seat.

"I am not convinced," Kaldur said gently, "and even so, that makes him but the victim of his creator's programming." He turned his grave expression on Connor, "certainly he deserves a chance to prove he's more than the _weapon_ others designed him to be."

If I was in a better mood, I might've whistled lowly with a 'shots fired' to lighten the mood. Instead, I regarded Kaldur cooly, voice tinged with disapproval, " _Prostós_."

He didn't turn to face me, and an uncomfortable silence settled over the cabin. What was happening to us?

* * *

 **YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK**

 _ **October 10, 20:22 MDT**_

* * *

The Bioship landed without so much as a hiss, camouflage mode still on. Kaldur spoke commandingly, "stealth mode."

His shirt rippled to a dark black, and Rob and I waited as everyone else switched to less conspicuous versions of their uniforms. Kaldur approached Zatanna in the meantime, voice soft yet stern, "I recommend you stay behind."

She raised an eyebrow, "is that an order?"

"No," he said with a shake of his head, "you must do as you see fit."

"Good," she said with satisfaction, and she raised her arms as a blue-silver smoke began to curl at her feet, another spell spilling out of her, " _Emit ot yrt tuo eht wen kool_!"

The smoke billowed upwards, twisting around her before dissipating to reveal her in entirely new clothes. It was similar to her father's, a white shirt tucked into a canary yellow waistcoat, which lay overtop tight black shorts. She wore a black tuxedo jacket with coattails, paired with white gloves, a white bowtie, and some sheer black tights underneath the shorts. A pair of heeled boots reached halfway up her calves, made out of what looked like black leather. The overall effect was rather charming, and she looked very at home in it despite the fact that she couldn't have worn it out and about much before. I had never see Zatanna on the news, or mentioned at all really in correlation to her father, I had only distantly heard of her existence before now.

We poured out of the Bioship, Rob leading the way into the forest at a run. He came to a sudden stop behind a large pine, kneeling down to whip out his holo-computer. It made a soft whirring noise as it scanned the ground, and Dick stared down at the screen, eyebrows pinched together, "Ivo was right, something's down there."

Kaldur raced forwards, and we started to follow close behind as a sudden blast of wind whipped towards us, carrying dirt and sand. I was the first to blow back off my feet, practically flipping through the air with a startled yelp as the force of the wind slammed into me. I hit the ground hard, and as I lifted my eyes to the sky, I saw Red Tornado floating above us in his typical red blur.

He extended his hands, a series of crimson-tinged tornadoes beginning to billow towards us. I couldn't see straight, the wind making my eyes blur with tears. M'gann's voice rung out above the noise and chaos, " _why_ Tornado?! Why are you doing this?!"

We struggled to our feet, and I caught something out of the corner of my eye, a faint message etched in the sand where a handful of tornadoes had travelled. _PLAY DEAD_. Any breath the wind hadn't stolen was ripped from my chest - there was no way. Red Tornado was on our side? M'gann's spoke through a hastily formed mindlink, " _message received_?"

Connor nodded, turning back to Red Tornado with an angry yell, "who cares why?! Nail him!"

He rushed forwards, Kaldur chasing after him with a shout, "Superboy! Maneuver seven!"

Twisting and lowering himself down a little to link his hands into a cup Kaldur could step into, Connor pitched Kaldur over his head and through the air with minimal effort. RT slammed a fist into Kaldur's face, and he crashed into Superboy on his way down, knocking them both into the ground in a heap.

Artemis raced forwards then, Rob at her side. Drawing back two explosive arrows, she let them fly towards the android only to have them quickly whip back around towards her by RT's wind. She and Dick jumped back with a cry of "look out!" from one of them, and the arrows exploded against the dirt in a loud boom of smoke and fire. I was momentarily concerned, but I caught a glimpse of them throwing themselves to the ground through the smoke.

Wally yelled from behind me, "that does it Red! You're not the only spin doctor around here!"

He started to turn faster and faster, until he was nothing but a blur of a black-tinged twister ascending into the air. M'gann flew at Red Tornado from behind, but he whipped around to catch her wrist. Pitching forwards, he flung her towards Kid's tornado, a scream ripping itself from her throat. They hit the ground hard, and Zatanna ran forwards, arms extended in front of her as she tried desperately to cast a spell, " _Etaerc a... a... dleihs dnuora ym_ —"

She was cut off sharply as RT wrapped a hand around her throat, eyes wide as she was lifted off the ground. I raced forwards, my heartbeat thumping away in my throat, "get the fuck off of her!"

Red dropped her to the ground, turning to me with the hollow eyes that had once seemed affectionately expressionless, but now just struck me as being cold and empty. Did he mean what he had scratched in the dirt? He stuck out a hand, and I couldn't help a clawed hand from reaching up to my throat as all the air seemed to be sucked from my chest. My knees buckled beneath me, and as soon as I hit the ground the air returned to my lungs. It took everything I had not to gasp and choke for air. Instead I lay as still as I could, barely breathing with my eyes fluttered shut and my muscles utterly loosened to mimic unconsciousness.

A quiet fell over us, nothing but the steady whooshing of the wind flowing us filling the silence. A rumbling began within the ground and in my ears, and before I could discern what was happening a deep, mechanized voice spoke, "quite a performance brother. But we both know that's all it was." My mind flashed back to the _PLAY DEAD,_ and I found myself aching for RT while wondering who this new 'brother' of his could possibly be. The android's voice took on a mocking tone, very Bond-villain monologue-y, "I have all your memories, Tornado. Plus a next-gen processor. I know your next move before you do."

The rumbling picked up in noise, and my eyes snapped open as I peeled myself off the ground, heart still in my chest. The new android was shaped differently than RT, with orange glowing lines carved into the metal of his body. It all led to one glowing golden symbol in the centre of his chest, a triangle with a circle inside it, and little squiggly lines radiating off it. If I didn't know better, I would say it reminded me of the Illuminati. The android extended his arms upwards, ripping pieces of the Earth out of place. That chunk of earth Red Tornado had written in came up behind the new android, and he scoffed, "blowing a message into the sand?"

The rock shattered into a hundred, very large pieces as he clenched his fists, and proceeded to fly towards us as he thrust his arms out. I couldn't help raising my arms to my face in defense, and Kaldur and Superboy jumped into the air towards it, smashing the rocks apart before they could hit us. M'gann shoved a piece away telepathically, but couldn't deal with a somewhat smaller chunk that soon followed it. Rob dived off to the side, and I tugged Zatanna, staring up at it with her mouth curved into a perfect 'O', off in the opposite direction.

A small noise of surprise flew from her throat, and Rob's voice filled the mindlink instantaneously, " _Zatanna_?"

Smoothing over a lick of annoyance before it could make itself known, I internally praised M'gann for the telepathy lessons. The barest hint of her smile filled my memory, as well as what she had said, _"you seem like the kind of person who would want to keep a few secrets."_

Zatanna looked over in Rob's general direction, " _I'm good_. _The Red Tornado's getting away_!"

I followed her changing gaze to the sky, where RT was flying off into the distance. Artemis' voice filled my mind, " _is he abandoning us_?"

" _I_ don't _believe that_ ," M'gann said with conviction, and I found myself agreeing with her. RT wouldn't leave us here, not when he had already tipped his hand about his working against the Reds from the inside.

A streak of black and red moved in the corner of my eye, and I followed Wally's run towards the new android atop his pillar of stone as best my brain could manage. As Kid leaned in with a punch, the new android reared back with a blow of his own, "you stand no chance against me —" the crack as his metallic fist connected with Kid's ribs, "humans."

Superboy and M'gann barreled towards the android at the same time, speaking in unison,

"We're not human!"

"We're not human!"

"Apologies," the android said, raising his hands. A cloud of dust billowed from the ground, and even my enhanced eyes couldn't pick out what he was doing. "I suppose the properly inclusive term is —" two stone hands rose into the air, squashing M'gann and Connor between them in a blow that sent fear straight through me, "meatbags."

The android's hand flew out, and the ground in front of him began to tear itself apart. Chunks rose up and fell away, and before I could even start running towards them, Artemis and Kaldur fell into the gaping chasm that was formed. I tore off in their direction, watching with some relief as one of Artemis's arrows flew through the darkness with a retracting cord attached, pulling them up over the side of the divide before it slammed back together again.

I helped them to their feet, staring upwards as Rob ran up a newly formed ramp and towards the android. A birdarang flew from his hand as my heart leap into my throat, and the android caught the projectile with ease. The following explosion didn't even phase him, and as the smoke around him cleared, he stared us down cooly, "Tornado's memory files and my superior processing speed allow me to anticipate your every move."

" _Emoks emoceb a dlofdnilb!_ " Zatanna cried, and a wisp of the smoke surrounding the android curled around his eyes. His hands flew to his face, and he was at a loss.

Zatanna landed a foot away from me, right next to Dick, "Tornado never knew _my_ moves."

"And I've bet you've got some good ones," Dick said, stepping forwards to come to her side. She turned to him with a strange expression, and he physically reared back, "whoa, sorry, that might have come off a little too Wally."

The look of reproach on her face curled into a fond smile, and she giggled softly, "I don't mind."

"Uh, guys?" I said, pointing over at the android, whose eyes were beginning to glow a bright red beneath the band of smoke, "think we've got some bigger problems."

A loud hum filled the air as he flung his head back, and a bright red beam of light that was very reminiscent of Clark's heat vision launched from his eyes into the night sky. I fell to my knees as a large explosion rocked the ground beneath me, and all I could do was stare at the column of fire and smoke billowing up from the some unknown point way behind the android. But it wasn't fire, it was lava. Surging straight up into the air and over the sides of what was, presumably, the same fucking caldera that had been represented as a ticking time bomb in the scientific community for years, and as one of the most likely harbingers of a global apocalypse.

Fuck.

The molten rock poured over the edges of the caldera, creating bright rivers of fire in the cracks the android had created in his attempts to kill us. Kid very narrowly escaped certain death as he rolled out of the way of literal burning rocks that the android chucked at him, and I knew we were well and truly fucked when I saw he had his grave face on. His voice was tense across the mindlink, " _he's activating a stage two eruption. It gets to stage three? Kiss the hemisphere goodbye_!"

" _Not to be pedantic_ ," I said brightly, " _but which hemisphere? Like am I moving to Eastern Europe or Argentina_?"

" _Catgirl, not the time_ ," Kaldur said, drawing his waterbearers. The soft blue glow was comforting amongst all the lava.

I shrugged, " _you know what they say, nothing like witty one-liners to stave off fear of a global apocalypse_."

Kaldur shook his head, but a spark of warm affection bloomed its way across the mindlink, followed quickly by calm severity, " _hit him from all sides_."

We darted away from one another, Kaldur and Connor flinging themselves at the android first, only to be quickly repelled. M'gann faded into camouflage mode, and I watched with careful eyes as she flew in behind the android, tugging at him telepathically. A spurt of lava boiled up beside her, and her scream echoed in my ears from feet away. Superboy was running towards her before any of us could react, her name tearing its way from his mouth, "M'gann!"

The android flipped off the rock he had been standing on, landing between them with enough force to rattle the ground. I was already running in their direction as the robot swatted Connor away, grabbing M'gann off the rock by the back of her cloak.

I didn't breathe, didn't think, I just threw myself towards the android. I could dimly register Zatanna yelling something, but all I cared about was the limpness of M'gann's body as she hung in the air like a ragdoll. The android's hand came up, flinging rocks at something behind me, and my hand came up to claw at his face. I tore across his eye, the feeling of my claws ripping through the metal reverberating all the way up my arm. The ugly tearing sound was like a gunshot in my enhanced ears, and I felt dimly satisfied as the android's hand flew upwards to the 'wound'. Turning my attention back to M'gann, I cut the cloth of her cape just in time for Kid to dash past and scoop her up into his arms.

Before he could make a return trip for me, the android's hand wrapped itself around my throat, the pressure of it effectively cutting off my airway. A choking noise issued from my mouth, and I couldn't do anything but strain for air and claw at the android's immobile hand.

My salvation came in the form of a blast of water coming out of nowhere, barrelling into the android with enough force to shake me from his grip as he fell backwards into the lava. I hit the ground hard, gasping for breath as the water dripped down my face. Turning to thank Kaldur, I was beaten to the punch by Robin, "nice hit!"

Kaldur stared blankly at his waterbearers, "the hit was not mine…" his face slackened in horror as he pointed to his left, "look!"

Red Torpedo stood there, one hand outstretched towards where his brother had fallen. As he rose into the air in a column of water, I scrambled to my feet and got the hell out of dodge. Wind tugged at my hair as Red Tornado flew over my head, and I stopped dead in my tracks to watch him plow through the pillar of rock the other android had been standing on. I broke back into a run as pieces fell around me, zig-zagging to avoid being smoked by one. I finally came to a stop at M'gann's side as Red Inferno entered the fight, lobbing fireballs at her new brother.

Kid cradled M'gann in his arms, and I laid a hand over her forehead. Her skin was feverish. She wasn't meant to be kept in such hot temperatures for so long, she needed fluids, and a cool bath before she got heat stroke. I spoke softly, "just keep going a little while longer M'gann." Groaning, her eyes fluttered open to rest on our faces as she came to her senses somewhat. Kid and I helped her to her feet, each taking an arm.

Red Inferno barrelled into her new brother, and they promptly entered a powerful grapple. He seemed utterly infuriated, "sister, brothers, stop!"

Red Torpedo jumped on top of him, resubmerging him in the lava. Red Tornado flew above it all, and then he suddenly stopped, pencil diving into the lava below. I couldn't make out what was happening, but Connor ran forward, grabbing RT by the scruff. He tore him from the lava with a shout, and I stretched out a hand to steady him as he jumped to land next to me. The bottom half of Tornado's body was absolutely decimated. His legs were melted away up past his knees, not even wires left to show what had been there.

Before we had the time to so much as process that, a deep rumbling echoed from within the caldera, and the ground beneath us picked up in frequency of its shaking. Wally whipped around, "Tornado, listen! We're on the verge of a stage three supervolcano eruption. There's no turning back from that, we need to vent pressure — fast! But the ash cloud will bring on a worldwide nuclear winter, unless you divert it!"

RT simply nodded, and Wally turned to Rob as soon as he got that confirmation, "triangulate around the pressure locus!"

Dick's fingers were already flying across the keyboard of his holo-computer, "right!" Little red dots appeared on the 3D map, "there, there, and there!"

Wally turned to Artemis, no words spoken or otherwise needed between them as she drew one of her new modified arrows. She pulled back the string, and the arrow flew perfectly straight, splitting into three separate explosive missiles in mid air. They landed exactly where they needed to, black smoke starting to billow into the air. The stink of sulphur was practically choking me now, and I had to blink back tears as I turned my eyes back to RT. With a little hiss and crackle of visible electricity, he flew into the air, as stoic as ever.

He flew onwards and upwards, and the sight of his red wind curling around the smoke downright apocalyptic. It should have terrified me, but instead I only felt relief. The tempest twirled the air around us too, and my already loosened ponytail flew out of its tie. My hair whipped around my face, both annoying me and blocking my vision with a wall of red curls. By the time I cleared it away, the ash cloud had vanished without a trace, and the lava was starting to cool.

Kid's excitement was palpable, and I watched with dim affection as he fistpumped happily, "yes!"

The victory was quickly tempered by the sight of Red Tornado falling to the ground none-too-gracefully. I was one of the first to reach him, throwing myself at his side as fear burned in my chest. Was he dead? Could he die?

He sat there, staring at us, and a heavy silence filled the air. I reached out with a shaking hand, entwining my clawed fingers with his metallic ones, "welcome home."

His mechanic voice somehow sounded tired, "it's nice to see you too, children."

* * *

Tucked into the little room that had been serving as T.O Morrow's workshop, we stood huddled in silence as Robin repaired RT's voicebox. The quiet snapping of RT's inner workings properly fitting together was all that filled the room, followed quickly by Rob's relieved voice, "there. That should do it."

"Yes," RT said simply, and his face slid back into place, "I can speak again."

Kaldur's voice was warm, and grateful, "you were willing to sacrifice yourself to save the planet."

"The planet would have survived," RT said, "it was humanity that was saved. Though not by me, my sister and brother were the true heroes this day."

"My point is this," Kaldur said, laying his hand on Tornado's shoulder, "you were never the mole. _Never_ a traitor."

"No," RT agreed. "I left to protect you from further attack, and to find my creator. Morrow."

Wally, unable to leave a sincere moment be, chimed in happily, "cool!" He lifted one of the new android's — Red Volcano, I had learned, recovered hands in the air, "souvenir!"

Dick lifted a leg, inspecting it with a grin, "Reddy! We can rebuild you! Better than you were before."

Red Tornado tilted his head ever-so-slightly away from us, "I do not believe I should be repaired."

My heart jumped and ached at the same time, but before I could say anything Connor lashed out, "why'd you volunteer to become our den mother in the first place?"

"I was the pragmatic choice," RT said, "I do not require sleep, I have no secret identity or second life to live."

"But you _do_ have advanced A.I programming," Wally said brightly, toying with the fingers of the robotic hand he was holding, "designed to learn, adapt, evolve!"

M'gann slapped herself in the forehead, " _hello Megan_ , you wanted to become more human!"

Artemis grinned, "and you sure couldn't do that with the League, they're _stiffs_."

"You're sure not going to learn emotion from Batman," Dick said with a low chuckle, "trust me."

"Then the Cave was not a proving ground only for us," Kaldur said, "but for you as well."

"I do not know if these statements are accurate. But perhaps, they are true. And if I understand the term correctly…" Red Tornado trailed off for a second, "I believe I have come to… _care_ about you all."

"See?" Connor said, the closest thing to a smile anyone but M'gann could wrangle out of him creeping up on his face, "practically a meatbag already."

"That reminds me…" RT said distantly.

I cocked my head to the side, "of what?"

"It is nothing," he said, and I approached his side cautiously.

"Well, I'd say this is a job decently done. Humanity saved, minimal damage considering the circumstances, Elpis remains in the _pithos_."

"Elpis?" Zatanna asked, " _pithos_?"

"Pandora's box," I said by way of explanation, "Elpis is the Greek spirit of hope, what remained in, well, it was translated as a box, but the original text had Pandora's particular mode of releasing all the world's evils as a _pithos_ , basically a container for oil."

She blinked distantly at me, something hardening in her eyes, "you must be _really_ smart."

I shook my head, "nah, Rob's the brains of the operation. I'm just a huge classics nerd, Kaldur and I geek out about it all the time."

"You two seem close," she said in a tone that I couldn't identify.

"As close as two people of differing species can be," I said with a grin, looping an arm somewhat awkwardly around Kaldur's neck, the height difference dragging him down, "isn't that right, _prostós_?"

He grinned down at me, "shove off, _agapía_ , we need to go home."

* * *

We settled into the interior of the Bioship, RT flying off on his own with promises to get his damages seen to. I had to bite my tongue as Zatanna settled into my usual place again, and now that the shiny newness had mostly rubbed off her, the rest of the team seemed to realize the discrepancy.

M'gann shuttered the mindlink to everyone but her, Artemis, and I, so I could ruminate in peace. Her voice was cautious as she lifted us into the air, " _are you alright_?"

" _Just peachy_ ," I answered flatly, staring straight out the front window. An emotion I couldn't really pick out roiled in my gut and infested the mindlink. It was so unpleasant, I felt like I was choking on it.

Rob leaned forward in his chair to grab Zatanna by the shoulder with a grin, " _so_ , good kidnapping?"

She twisted in her chair to face him, "actually, _yeah_." Her voice took on a teasing lilt, "best ever."

He huffed a little laugh, voice warm and soft, "first of many I hope."

"If my dad doesn't ground me for _life_ ," she said, adopting a petulant tone. Something about it made me want to roll my eyes and make some snappy remark, but I restrained myself, crossing my legs and desperately wishing I had a book to occupy my time with.

Instead, I unfolded myself from my chair, unable to keep a certain degree of coldness out of my voice as I lied, heading back to the cabin, "it's my turn to log the mission data."

Rob frowned, "wait, isn't it mine?"

I offered him my best fake smile, crinkling up the corners of my eyes just so, "you're having fun out here. I'll do it."

Heading back without a second glance, I almost found it even more irritating that he didn't put up more of a protest, especially because normally Dick was ridiculously anal about making sure everyone took their proper turns with it. Settling in at the little terminal, I started with the opening details of Zatanna's introduction to the Team.

* * *

 **MOUNT JUSTICE**

 _ **October 10, 23:47 EST**_

* * *

Freshly showered and debriefed, the grand majority of the team had either gone home or were thinly dispersed around the Cave. Zatara had managed to contain the immediate tongue-lashing he clearly ached to give his daughter, but I had no doubt she had received an earful. It was pretty improbable that she would turn up again soon, and the fact that I felt _relieved_ about it made me feel sick.

I was sitting on the edge of the 'back door'. The cold night wind that blew off the sea was refreshing after being surrounded by so much ash and sulphur. You could see all the stars here, Happy Harbour so small it barely gave off enough light pollution to even dampen the sky. I was shivering — the clothes I had left at the Cave were meant for summer, not autumn, and the the thinness of the material wasn't doing much to guard against the cold.

I tensed as the low hiss of the door opening filled the quiet, but relaxed as the green apple, tea, almond scent told me it was just Artemis. She settled down next to me, voice soft, "what's eating at you?"

I laid my head on her shoulder, sighing, "I don't like Zatanna."

"No shit, Sherlock," she said with a snort, "what about it?"

"I don't like that I don't like her. I was so prepared to _adore_ her, and she's not even a bad person. I don't even know why, she just… rubs me the wrong way," I said with a frown.

"You're jealous."

I nearly choked on air, "of _what_?"

She shrugged, "I don't know, she's gorgeous, funny, talented, superpowered, Robin's obsessed with her. What isn't there for you to be jealous of?"

"Oh wow, thanks 'Mis," I deadpanned, turning to face her.

"Not that she's _better_ than you, dummy. Just that her and Rob are pretty chummy, and I mean it's pretty obvious to everyone but you two that you like him. And now he's head-over-heels for some new girl."

"I _do not_ ," I hissed, "she just seems shady, okay? Not to mention she has that total spoiled, daddy's-little-princess vibe that makes me want to jump off a building."

She rolled her eyes, "you're really grasping at straws for a reason to dislike her for someone who's not being irrationally jealous. And I don't care if it's because you like Robin, even though you _do_. He's your best friend. Of course you're going to be rubbed the wrong way when he's bending over backwards to impress and hang around someone else, and ignoring you. It's human nature."

"Okay," I said flatly, "if we're talking about people denying feelings, you have literally no room to be criticizing anyone. Unless you've confessed your undying love for Wally and you didn't tell me."

"I'm not in love with Wally," she protested, and even in the dark I could see the way her cheeks turned pink.

I rolled my eyes, " _right_ , and I'm a purple dinosaur named Beyoncé. You two are up there with Connor and M'gann these days."

"No way," she said, wrinkling her nose, "only they're capable of being that gross."

"Then you admit that you two are in love," I said teasingly, bumping her shoulder.

"I didn't say anything," she said, bumping me back. A slow grin creeped over her face, "he was kinda hot today though, when he was ordering everyone around."

" _Ewww_ ," I groaned, slapping a hand over her mouth, "never mind, we're never discussing this again. Keep your secrets."

Her lips curled up even further against my palm, her voice muffled but still clear, " _victory_."

I rolled my eyes, dropping my hand from her face to stand up, "let's go home, I'm exhausted."

Artemis nodded, "talk about it, I'm going to have ten million bruises tomorrow morning." Her face screwed up as she seemed to remember something, and I cocked my head at her in question. She shrugged, "don't worry about it, I just remembered me and my mom are in the middle of a fight. I'm gonna get the silent treatment."

"Do you wanna sleep over?" I asked, frowning. Artemis' home life was strange, and difficult, and confusing, but I wanted to do whatever I could to make her happier.

The fight must have been decently nasty, because she actually looked like she was considering it, "would your mom mind?"

"Sel? No she's been dying to meet you, she thinks you sound great. Grab some clothes from here, you can stay over the whole weekend."

She nodded, "okay, I think I actually will, if you're sure."

"Surer than sure, let's drop by your room and I'll text Cat."

So we set off back into the Cave, the warm air soothing my goosebumps, and Selina welcomed Artemis into the apartment with open arms. I set her up in my room, and Sel made sure she knew she was welcome here any time, setting us up with a takeout menu so we could eat for the first time since this afternoon.

It was when we were trying to fall asleep in my bed that Artemis rolled over to face me, voice soft, "Arabella?"

I cracked an eye open, studying the warm expression she was wearing. It was a rare one, and one I hoped to coax out of her more often, "yeah?"

She smiled, "thank you."

I shook my head, voice warm, "what are friends for?"

* * *

 **Hey guys! So it's been a while. Pinky promise I'm going to attempt to maintain a regular update schedule in the spring now. I'm on Easter break for a week, so expect another chapter before that's over! Sorry if the pacing of this chapter is a bit off, I wasn't perfectly happy with it, but I didn't want to just sit on it.**

 **A lovely reader by the name of Dawn Racer drew up their interpretation of Arabella, so I mean I can cross that one off the bucket list. They have it on their Deviantart, and they use Avast-the-technician over there.**

 **Responding to reviews!**

 **HephaestusBuilds: Yes, I promise I still update! I'm just wildly inconsistent. Thank you so much, and I love Arabella too! I'm glad you're enjoying it so much, and I hope you'll keep reading!**

 **C.B Weasley (Mar. 19): Oh my lord that is so validating you have no idea. I don't really know why, I tend to operate by the 'don't-like-don't-read' philosophy, so I can't say I understand. Thank you for your kind words!**

 **C.B Weasley (Mar. 18): Thank you! Yeah, I adore slow burn stories so I love writing them too. I never want to just copy and paste the show, though I do try and preserve the original dialogue as much as humanly possible because it's freaking amazing. I love having Arabella bond with everyone, so I try and put cute little interactions in the beginning and end of every chapter. More of Arabella's flaws will definitely come to light the more we delve in, especially now that Zatanna's around. Some huge moments that are pretty altering to her character are coming soon, so be on the lookout for those!**

 **Briezy23: Thank you! I really don't see them being together at the snap of my fingers because I decided it, that would be very forced. I'm glad you think this is more of a natural progession! (And I did do pretty well on my midterms so I credit that to your good luck.)**

 **Catzillataco: Aww, thank you! I hope you like the new chapter!**

 **KingTritium: I've been sitting on this review for a while, trying to come up with a proper response. Arabella overreacts. Arabella is dramatic af. Arabella only knew violence as a method of sorting out your issues for the majority of her formative years. She's an angry, violent person. She probably would have him disowned, living on the streets, and eating garbage. The way she sees it, Jessi is an innocent, sweet, gentle person. She's the kind of person that Arabella never had the option to be, and who she's the most driven to protect because she sees them as defenceless. She does things without thinking, and sometimes without considering how it might affect other people and their feelings. She's a flawed character, she's not always going to do what you or someone else might think is the right thing. As for the Tommy issue, I think we're going to have to agree to disagree over it. In my mind, the point is that despite herself (another character flaw) she trusts Tommy, even when she probably shouldn't. This will be a pattern, and it will come into play later in the story. I did try to add in more description this chapter, but this story does have a pretty fast-paced tone, especially during missions. I hope you like the update!**

 **Guest: You're welcome! Thank you very much for reading!**

 **Dawn Racer: Thank you as always, I hope to update again soon!**

 **So that's the skinny guys! Failsafe is up next, and all I will say is that I have been looking forward to writing this chapter ever since I first published The Cat. See you next time!**


	16. Failsafe

**Hey guys! It's sure been a while. I've been swamped with work heading into exams (which are in less than two weeks, haha) and what with the clueing up of all my extracurriculars, starting my first job, and just general life stuff, I've barely had any time to work on this. I _finally_ got it done, and I hope it lives up to your expectations and my standards. This episode is very near and dear to my heart, and is a huge turning point in the series in my opinion. I really wanted to do it justice, so I definitely took my time with it. See you at the bottom!**

* * *

 **MOUNT JUSTICE**

 _ **Unknown, ?:? ?**_

* * *

I watched in numb horror, the sight of Bruce's ship facing off against the aliens filling the holo-screen. A burst of bright light. When I blinked, it was gone. Disintegrated. Just like all the leaguers before him. He was gone.

I felt… nothing. It didn't feel real, like everything happening around me was irrelevant somehow. The iron taste of fear stung my mouth, but I stood as tall as every other member of the team. I couldn't help but glance over to Rob, to see how he was taking it. His expression matched mine, and the rest of the team; steely determination betraying nothing else.

A second holo-screen appeared as the one we had all been watching cut out. Zatara's stony face filled it, his voice grieved, "Tornado. Did you —?"

RT spoke firmly, "yes, Zatara. We saw. Celestial defenses have failed, initiate all terrestrial measures."

"Affirmative, see you in the field," Zatara's face blinked out, the screen disappearing with him.

Red Tornado turned to us, the faint sound of his whirring joints all that could be heard in the silence of the room. His voice was unmoved, "I must join the League. We will protect the planet at all costs." He shifted into a softer, more tender tone, "but should we fail, the responsibility falls to you.

I kept my eyes on Tornado's face, despite the fact I could feel Kaldur scanning ours. He stepped out from our line, unshaken, "we stand ready."

* * *

 **MOUNT JUSTICE**

 _ **Unknown, ?:? ?**_

* * *

Iris filled the view of a holo-screen, her professional composure as evident as ever as she stood tall and calm. Central City fell apart behind her, screaming civilians running for their lives as alien ships blew apart buildings. "This is Iris West-Allen, reporting live. The extraterrestrials have brought their relentless global attack to Central City." A beam from one of the alien's ships destroyed an arch behind her, the concrete crumbling to the street with a resounding crack and boom.

She shrunk back from the devastation, fear spelled out on her face. Another beam vaporized a group of civilians behind her, their arms stretched up in panicked surrender as they ran. A blur of red — Barry — swooped in from the right of the frame to scoop Iris up just as an alien ship plowed through the ground where she had been standing. Alien ships parked themselves in view of the camera, and Zatara's voice filled the room, chanting something I couldn't make out. Pure, golden light filled the screen, and the cameraman was on top of a roof, Zatara stood before him with one glowing hand outstretched. Flash zoomed into the frame, setting Iris down gently.

Zatara grabbed his cane, "you should both be safe here. At least for now."

Iris turned to Barry, "thank you… Flash." Her voice went from tender to awkward as she had to address her husband like she didn't know him, "and Zatara." Barry laid a hand on her shoulder before he sped off, and Zatara lifted off the ground in the same direction with a harsh chant. The camera zoomed in on Iris as she faced it, her eyebrows drawn tightly together, "Denny, you okay?"

The cameraman flashed her a thumbs-up, just visible in the corner of the frame. She offered him the smallest smile, the camera following her arm as gestured towards a nearby burning building, "as you can… see, the Justice League is… attempting to hold the line." Flash picked up a young woman, he and Zatara clear against the miserly gray of the sky just before a beam of light and an explosion rocked the camera, plumes of black smoke blooming out in every direction. Iris dropped her composure as the camera panned back over to her, one hand extended towards where her husband had been standing only seconds earlier. The camera caught the softest whisper from her, as an alien ship rocketed towards the foreground of the camera, "no."

A new feed snapping into place in midair, Cat Grant's desk seated in front of her own feed of Central City. Her voice was frantic as she screamed at the screen, "Iris! Iris get out of there —!" The screen blurred and turned to a mess of static and rainbow-coloured bars before cutting out completely.

Cat sat back in her chair, tears pooling in the bottom of her eyes as she attempted to maintain some semblance of calm composure. Her hands fisted in the papers on her desk, the paper crinkling beneath her perfect, pink acrylic nails, "I'm sorry, we're experiencing technical difficulties from our Central City feed." Her eyes slid over to the giant NO SIGNAL behind her, a tear slipping down her cheek, "we take you now to a _devastated_ Taipei." A new feed blossoming against the darkness, the TAIPEI 101 glowing behind a clip of the Hawks disintegrating within alien beams. Cat's voice maintained its usual bounciness, "where another League contingent is having a _bit more_ luck."

A new clip of Dinah and Oliver standing back to back on a rooftop filled the screen, her cry causing an explosion within a pod of alien ships that rocked the camera. Oliver turned to face her as a cloud of black smoke filled the air, drawing back an arrow as an alien ship emerged from the cover. It was too late, and that same searing light filled the screen.

Taipei faded into black, and Cat faced the camera, face and tone sober, "ladies and gentlemen; we have lost Black Canary, Green Arrow, and the Hawks. Other heroes reported missing or dead include Batman, Icon, Atom, and Aquaman."

Another new feed, Diana's vicious face covering the screen. Her lasso was wrapped around an alien ship, and she flung it headlong into another one as it zoomed past. The victory was cut short when RT's voice boomed out, "Wonder Woman! Above you!"

A beam knocked into her, and she was gone. Red Tornado flew out from under a particularly large ship, and a clip of it settling onto the entirety of Smallville filled the screen. It was shaped kind of like an egg, with parts shaped like thorns stretching out from it. A few glowing, giant red holes covered the sides of the ship, and the whole thing looked so out of place in contrast with the idyllic farmhouse in the foreground of the shot. Tornado kept fighting, shooting out bursts of crimson wind towards the ships that zoomed around him. His voice filled not only the screen, but the comms in our ears, "Red Tornado to Cave: I fear I am all that remains of the League."

Rob called out, "RT —" he cut himself off as a beam hit Tornado square in the back, and he disintegrated before our eyes. I couldn't look away from all the feeds floating in the air now, so many cities torn apart, so many innocent lives taken. I added Red Tornado to the list of names I was tallying in my head.

We turned to each other, uncertainty a black shroud hanging in the air. Kaldur spoke calmly, "we are Earth's heroes now."

"So what are we waiting for," Connor demanded, "a theme song?"

"A strategy," Kaldur said, "Earth's weapons are ineffective. And it has been made tragically clear a direct attack will not succeed."

Rob tapped away at his holo-computer, "checking satellite imagery…" a giant hologram of the globe filled the room, bright red spots like blood stains blooming out from major population centres.

Connor pointed at a more concentrated red dot, located very high up on the hologram, "that one get lost?"

I had to blink, and Rob seemed utterly taken aback, "it's Superman's Fortress of Solitude."

Connor looked down, surprised, "Superman has a Fortress of Solitude?"

"His glorified Kryptonian man cave, yes," I said, my eyes focusing on that little red dot.

Rob sent me a sidelong annoyed glance, "its powersource must have attracted the alien's attention. At least enough to send a scout ship to investigate."

Superboy turned away, voice tight, "must be some fortress."

M'gann rested a hand on his shoulder, "Connor —"

He turned to her, taking on a lighter tone, "no, it's okay. I guess there's a lot about Superman I'll never know." His eyebrows drew together, a certain gravity hitting his features as he seemed to realize how true that was, "y'know. Now."

"We will target this lone ship," Kaldur said commanding, staring at the hologram cooly.

"Yeah," Wally said menacingly, "break it down, build more. Hit those _ugly aliens_ with their own mojo."

He slammed his fist into his palm as Artemis elbowed him sharply, a yelp echoing from him. She leaned in to speak in his ear, "Martian and Kryptonian in the house."

M'gann and Connor were eyeing him with guarded faces, and Kid's face fell into a more typical, goofy expression, "uh, not that all aliens are automatically ugly."

"Keep digging yourself into a deeper hole here, KF," I said, walking over to Superboy and M'gann. I stared them in the face, trying to seem as serious as possible, "you two are friends of Earth — family to us, practically. And quite a few aliens just —" _died_ was the word I wanted to use, but I bit it back, "fought out there to save us. We will _never_ stop trusting you on the foundation of your species, the two of you are just as much from Earth as we are."

M'gann nodded, taking my hands in her own, "we appreciate it, Catgirl."

Rob typed something into his holo-computer, face lighting up, "there should be some thermal suits in the back room, designed for arctic temperatures."

Kaldur gathered us round, and I had to examine each of my teammates carefully, knowing this could be the last time I saw them. The curve of Dick's pinched-together eyebrows, every freckle on Wally's face, the gleam of Artemis' eyes, the particular green of M'gann's skin, Kaldur's tattoos, the wrinkle starting to form on Connor's forehead from frowning so much. Kaldur regarded us with calm authority, "this is our mission: protect Earth at all costs. We will engage that scouting ship, and as Kid Flash so eloquently put it, hopefully reverse-engineer the alien's technology so we may use it upon them. I believe in you all, and may we do right by our mentor's sacrifices so that Earth may be saved. Now go suit up."

We nodded, dispersed, and then the die was cast.

* * *

 **THE** **FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE**

 _ **Unknown, ?:? ?**_

* * *

Despite the warmth of the thermal suit I was wearing, the cold of the wind here still bit at my face. I tugged the furry hood of my parka closer to my cheeks, settling into place next to Artemis as M'gann flew from the south towards the alien ship. I could barely see the outline of her against the sky, her camouflage mode working as well as ever. Artemis nocked an arrow. My hand tightened around my whip. The steady pulse of the mindlink echoed in my head.

A low creaking sound of metal ripping apart filled the air, paired with the buzzing hum of electricity. M'gann's voice entered the link, " _communications disabled_ ," a loud boom, practically deafening in the snowy quiet, " _propulsion disabled_."

Artemis curled from around the rock we were hiding behind, letting her arrow fly. That foam she used spread across the big red dot of the ship, which we had discerned to be the door. The little attachment on top of the ship, vaguely reminiscent of a periscope, started to whir around, wildly firing beams in our direction.

I rolled to the left as a giant hole was blasted in the ice guarding us from the ship, debris hitting the top of my head. I shook it off, meeting Artemis' wide-eyed stare from my crouched position. She was safe. No more shots rang out, and Artemis spoke into the mindlink, " _and ET's are sealed inside_!"

The sharp noise of the ice beneath the ship splitting into a million pieces made me jump, Kaldur emerging from the water beneath, waterbearers at the ready. I almost screamed when the periscope-thingy pivoted to face him, the glowing of it indicating an incoming beam. A blur of white flew through the air, Wolf knocking the cannon away from Kaldur with his whole body, jaws sunk into the metal. Superboy soon followed, holding the cannon in place. Total relief filled me, Robin and Kid jumping onto the roof of the ship from wherever they were hiding.

Rob tapped away at his holo-computer, " _identifying weapon's structural stress points and links to the ship_ …" he pointed at various points on the cannon, " _here, here, and here_!"

M'gann raised her hand, the metal of the cannon crushing inwards in exactly those places. Connor started to tug, the low groaning of the cannon detaching from the ship filling the air, and underneath the faintest whirring noise. Wolf ran at his master, knocking Connor off his feet and onto the ice. A burst of orange light filled my vision, and when I blinked Wolf was gone.

A dawning horror bloomed across the mindlink on all sides as what had just happened finally clicked. M'gann's devastated voice was booming in the heavy silence, " _Wolf_ …"

Rob swiped at his holoscreen, taken aback, " _there_ _—_ _there was no indication of feedback_ ," he turned to Connor, whose head was hung in grief, " _I'm sorry_."

Superboy raised his head, fixing his gaze on the ship, " _can't do anything for him now_." He grabbed the cannon again, the metal creaking as he tore it from the ship, " _let's go_!"

I nodded at Artemis, who nocked another arrow as we prepared to move towards the Bioship. M'gann was working some kind of Martian magic on the stolen tech, the shell of the Bioship twisting up and connecting with the end of the cannon, " _re-rooting systems to integrate weapon into ship's Biomatrix. I'll need to de-camouflage for a few minutes_."

" _We may not have a few minutes_ ," Robin said, and I followed the rest of the team's gaze to where two alien ships zoomed past in the sky. I tensed, the ships making a U-turn to wheel on the Bioship.

Kaldur's voice boomed in my skull, " _Miss Martian, open fire_!"

" _Can't_ ," she said desperately, turning back to where the cannon was integrating with the Bioship, " _weapons systems are offline to incorporate the new cannon. And that's not fully integrated yet either_!"

"' _Gotcha covered_!" Artemis called, nocking two more arrows, " _get inside! We're almost there_!"

She let the arrows fly towards the approaching ship, and I ran by her side as we sprinted towards the Bioship. Explosions sounded in the air behind us, and I turned and looked over my shoulder to see one of the ships hitting the ice and skidding towards us. Bits of ice flew up like sparks, the screeching noise of metal against the ground piercing my enhanced ears. I missed a step, slipping on the ice to fall on my face. Leaning forward on my hands, I barely registered M'gann's voice, " _Artemis, Catgirl, behind you_!"

I rolled to my back, watching Artemis wheel around, another arrow ready to fire. She drew it back, and that orange light filled my vision and it was all over.

Before I could blink, Artemis was gone.

M'gann screamed with her real voice, "ARTEMIS!"

I joined her, a loud keening cry ripping itself from my throat as I scrambled backwards on the ice. Wally was screaming her name too, and Kaldur was saying something behind me, but all I could hear was Carla's voice, of all people, in my head; _just run sweetheart_.

A chasm opened in the ice as I tore off towards the ship, vision blurring with tears. The full weight of what was really happening hit me all at once. Bruce was dead. The _whole League_ was dead. Wolf was dead. _Artemis_ , my teammate, my confidant, the girl who was growing to be a sister to me, was dead. I couldn't breathe. Nothing was okay, and nothing would ever be okay again.

Stumbling to where the rest of the team stood, I could only watch as Wally stared out to where the alien ship now lay sunk, his face both unbearably sad and enraged. "They're _dead_ ," he choked out, anger and grief dripping from him like poison, "every single alien. If it's the last thing I do."

The urge to reach out and comfort him gripped me, but I didn't know how. Instead, Dick fell on me, grabbing at my face and arms and checking for any sign of injury. I took his hands in mine, "I'm fine. I'm okay. I made it." _Artemis didn't_. The unspoken words hung heavy in the air, and a low sob came from M'gann.

Connor's voice was scratchy when he spoke, "what do we do now?"

Kaldur turned away from where Artemis had died, "we carry on."

* * *

Artemis' empty seat stuck out like a sore thumb. In front of Wally, across from Kaldur, and a short diagonal line across from me. I couldn't do anything but sit,

curled into a ball and my head resting on Rob's shoulder next to me. His fingers were entwined with mine, each of us with an iron-tight grip. I felt empty, like all the nerves responsible for me feeling anything were deadened and shrivelled inside my chest. Unshed tears still clung to my eyes, finally spilling over onto my mask as M'gann started to crack behind me.

Little sobs came from her pilot's chair, and Wally promptly started to lose his shit. He slammed his fists into the little tray table attached to his chair, noises of pure anger tearing themselves out of his throat. I was reminded of the smell of Artemis next to me, and the sea air, her voice in my ear, ' _he was kinda hot today though, when he was ordering everyone around.'_

Kaldur practically leapt from his seat, "there will be time to mourn later. Now we have a job to do. Defend the Earth; and ensure Artemis' sacrifice was not in vain."

I lifted my head from Dick's shoulder, stepping out of my chair as softly as I knew how to. I felt disconnected from myself, too-light and floaty. Settling on my knees next to Wally's chair, I grabbed his hands, "she'd want us strong."

His lip quivered, "it's not fair."

"Nothing's fair," I said, "and she knew that. She knew that better than anyone. Honour what her life was worth by making sure that it saves the world."

After a long pause, M'gann spoke, "back to the Cave?"

"The Hall of Justice," Kaldur said, "the human race must know that there are still heroes defending them. There is still hope."

Returning to my seat, I had to pose a question, "these aliens, what do they _want_?"

"Clearly to take over Earth," Kaldur said.

"But _why_ ," I asked, "why haven't we seen a single one of them? Why haven't they posed any demands?"

"On Mars, we knew of a certain philosophy many alien races follow," M'gann said, "they have vast empires across hundreds of planets, and each time a new one is captured they take up a kind of, _scorched earth_ policy. Every last remnant of the culture that had been there before is wiped away, and alien citizens are put there in its place."

"Why would they ever do that, they know nothing about Earth," Rob said, eyebrows pinched together.

"The races who subscribe to that kind of philosophy believe, fundamentally, that their way of life is better than of each planet they subjugate."

"That's horrible," I said, fingers shaking. So not only were these imperialistic aliens trying to take over Earth, they were _bigoted_ imperialistic aliens.

"How are we going to let _anyone_ know that we're still alive and fighting, much less the world?" Connor demanded.

Kaldur settled into his seat, the Bioship picking up speed, "we'll figure it out when we get there."

* * *

 **THE HALL OF JUSTICE**

 _ **Unknown, ?:? ?**_

* * *

We watched from behind as a pod of three alien ships swooped down towards troops on the ground, cannons at the ready. Connor stood, "let me at 'em."

M'gann opened a hole just wide enough for him to drop out of, and I watched from the front window as he landed on the back of an alien ship, punching into the metal with a viciousness. M'gann blasted the other two ships out of the sky, the newly integrated cannon working remarkably well. Just as Superboy's ship hit the ground, trailing smoke and sparks, the Bioship landed gracefully on the ground next to it.

We disembarked quickly, the soldiers forming a cheering crowd as we descended the Bioship's ramp. I kept my game face on, schooling my features into something calm, cool, collected, and totally not what I was currently feeling. One soldier nudged his buddy, "see? It _is_ Superman! I told you he wouldn't leave us out here alone!"

His friend rolled his eyes, "I don't know. He looks kinda young. Where's the cape?"

The weight of who he had to live up to seemed to settle over Connor's shoulders, "I'm not Superman."

The general who seemed to be leading these people stepped forward, voice rough and scratchy, like he spent too much time knocking back whiskey and smoking cigars, "I don't know who you are, son. And right now, I don't care. You wear the S, and you got the job done."

Connor looked down, voice quieter this time, "I'm not Superman."

The man smiled at him, "tell that to the enemy." Kaldur approached him, and he straightened up with a salute, "General Wade Eiling, US Air Force."

Kaldur nodded, "Aqualad. Justice League. We'll help you salvage as many of the alien's cannons as possible." His face grew grave, and angry, "then we start taking back what is ours."

We managed to rescue a good few of the cannons, and while I wasn't entirely sure as to how the Air Force was going to weaponize them without alien tech of their own, I just let them do their job. It was hitting me now that this wasn't going to be a short fight, not the usual reconnaissance mission gone sideways that we usually embarked upon. This was planet-wide siege warfare, with hundreds of lives lost each second.

I pulled Connor aside as he was stacking the last of the stolen cannons, pointing to his shirt, "I know Clark didn't talk to you much, if ever. But, do you know what that means?"

He frowned down at the red S, "it's Kryptonian, isn't it?"

"It's so much more than that," I said with a shake of my head. "That there is the symbol of the great and noble House of El. Superman's family back on Krypton before it was destroyed. That symbol, that little mess of red lines that happens to look like a latin letter, it stands for hope. That's its meaning. Which means to these people, you stand for hope. We all do. We aren't people, we're ideas. So that's what we're here to do, fight, and maybe die, and give the people of Earth a little hope."

It looked like he wanted to say something, but he swallowed, Adam's apple bobbing, and nodded. We walked back to the others, and the soldiers parted like the Red Sea for us to enter the Hall.

The serene quiet of the Hall, a place of wonder and majesty, was filled with a different kind of silence now. Several statues of our mentors, which had once stood imposingly above the room, were fallen. A solitary line of them still stood, coated in dust and filth. The debris was a crumpled mess, the pristine floor now dirty and covered in bits of rock.

Dick and I both turned to Batman's severed head, tilted to the side next to the Flash's. He grabbed my hand, "th — they're really gone."

I tried to envision a Wayne Manor without Bruce in it, and I fell short. What was Wayne Manor without his warm, fatherly affection, his brooding air, that full-bellied laugh that was so hard to get out of him but when you did it rattled furniture? The sarcasm, the quick-wit, the playful banter. I thought of Selina, and instantly pushed that thought away. If she was gone —

M'gann didn't let me finish the thought, hovering to where the head of Martian Manhunter lay, tears already dripping down her face. She crumpled before the now-weathered stone, sobs tearing from her with a ferocity that made her whole body shake. I was about to move to comfort her when her crying stopped, and her head jolted up. Flying backwards, she lifted the upper half of the statue straight into the air with her telekinesis.

Underneath, like an insect beneath a log, was Martian Manhunter.

"Uncle J'onn!" M'gann flung the statue to the side with a large crash, the glass of the nearby wall shattering entirely.

But when she moved to fling herself at the man, Kaldur raced in front of her, hand already traveling towards his waterbearer. His voice rang clear through the link, " _M'gann! Check his mind. Make sure he is who he appears to be_."

Her hand flew to her temple, and her excitement and joy was a shining light in the mindlink, " _it's him. He's real. And he's alive!_ "

Connor spoke aloud, "but we saw you get disintegrated. You and Superman!" He rocked back, seeming to realize he was showing bias towards his would-be father figure, "and _everyone_!"

M'gann helped J'onn to his feet as the Martian clutched his head, "yes, I remember. But… I cannot remember how I survived." He turned to his niece, "or… how I arrived here?"

"Maybe you were density shifting and the beam passed right through you?" she suggested, voice bright for the first time since Artemis' death.

Rob nodded enthusiastically, "scrambling your brains along the way!"

Martian Manhunter nodded, hand coming up to grasp his forehead, "my mind _is_ clouded. I feel certain I had something important to tell you."

Wally slapped himself on the forehead, a small spark of hope lighting on his end of the link as he spoke through it, " _hello Wally! C'mon!_ "

Dick's face was suspicious as Kid and I followed him back out of the hall, the soldiers helpfully pulling up a Jeep for us to stand on so Rob could properly analyze the cannon we'd integrated into the Bioship. I peered over his shoulder, "so what exactly are we trying to prove?"

" _I knew it!_ " Wally said through the mindlink, ignoring me, " _look! It's giving off Zeta beams. The same stuff that powers our Zeta tubes!_ " He grabbed Rob's arms, shaking him a little, " _th_ — _this thing doesn't disintegrate! It_ teleports!" Kid was working himself up into an ecstatic frenzy, " _Artemis is alive!_ "

Rob was frowning down at the analysis, " _maybe, but_ —"

KF cut him off, " _no maybes! They're all alive!_ "

For one, precious moment I allowed myself to have hope. Artemis, Bruce, Selina, the League, all alive, just in need of a rescue. But Rob's maybe weighed on me, what did he know? He still wasn't smiling. M'gann's jubilant voice echoed through the mindlink, directed at J'onn, " _that must have been what you wanted to tell us_!"

The now-familiar roar of alien ships filled the air, and we barely had time to duck for cover before beams were being launched at us. Kaldur spoke in the link, " _we're on our way!_ "

" _Negative!_ " Rob said, peering over the edge of the Jeep, " _we_ can't _win this. Miss Martian, camo the Bioship!_ "

The camouflage rolled over it, but not before a beam hit the bow. The distant sensation of agony hit the mindlink from both M'gann and J'onn, and I sprinted towards the entrance before anyone else could move. Rob followed with a hasty, " _we're falling back!_ ", but I sped through the doors and flung myself to the floor at M'gann's side. Connor cradled her, tears streaming from her eyes. She look harrowed, and I wiped her tears away, shushing her softly.

She turned to me with a whisper, "Cat, something isn't right."

Eiling and co. stormed the room before I could ask her what she meant, his nasally accent grating on my ears, "we're trapped!"

Kaldur pressed a hand to the keypad outside the door that lead to the inner chamber, the metal doors sliding open with a clang. He turned to us, "maybe not." The soldiers entered first, forming a protective line as we made our way through the long room. I tried to read as many of their names as possible, just in case. As we ran, Kaldur explained the plan, "we can all Zeta to the Cave," he turned to J'onn, "if _you_ can grant us computer clearance to access the tubes."

J'onn looked beleaguered, "I can only authorize one at a time."

Kaldur nodded, pointing to the entrance of the Zeta tube, "send the soldiers first."

"Belay that!" Eiling shouted, "you seven are assets we cannot afford to lose!"

Kaldur nodded, and J'onn set to authorizing the first trip. A scanner dropped from the ceiling, blue-green light flickering over J'onn as he spoke aloud, "override, Martian Manhunter, zero-seven."

That familiar automated female voice rung out, " _recognized, access granted._ "

I moved to the back of the line, determined to be the last to leave. M'gann went first, then Dick, just as Wally was scanned, an explosion wracked the front of the room. We turned, Superboy running to a soldier with his leg pinned beneath a rock. Before Wally could take off anywhere, I watched Kaldur grab him with both hands and fling him into the light of the Zeta tubes. The roar of machine gun fire filled the room, and Connor lifted the boulder off the man, slinging him over a shoulder. He called out to Kaldur, " _he_ goes next."

The computer scanned him, " _Private Jason Bard, US MC_ , _A04_."

Connor helped him in, and the jumped forward himself. As he faded into golden light, alien beams started to hit soldiers, vaporizing them on the spot. I watched Eiling disintegrate, his last expression one of twisted agony. Kaldur flung J'onn into the Zeta, "they need you more than me, go!"

I grabbed at Kaldur, trying to force him behind me and in front of the scanner. But he was always so much stronger, and he placed me behind him, "run _agapía_!"

The last thing I saw before I dissolved into golden light was Kaldur's skeleton, illuminated to stark clarity as an alien beam threw him backwards.

* * *

I hit the other end of the Zeta tube screaming furiously. I pounded my fists against the metal, "KALDUR! KALDUR! KALDUR YOU STUPID FUCKING—"

Arms wrapped around me from behind, pulling me kicking and screaming from the Zeta tube, and I wasn't thirteen and in the Cave anymore. I was a tiny, shivering little girl, fighting tooth and claw to Carla's dead body. I bit and kicked and punched, trying desperately to scrabble my way across the room to the Zeta tubes, to call for Kaldur.

A cool hand laid itself across my forehead, and I was utterly at peace. Nothing was wrong, why was I acting like this? I looked up and into M'gann's eyes, just a shade too orange to be the same colour as mine. A hint of revulsion curled in my chest as I realized what she had done. But it was for the best, I couldn't be losing my shit right now. She took her hand away, and Connor let go of me. His arms were red where I had scratched at him, "I'm so sorry."

He shook his head, "it's fine, what happened?"

I floundered, unable to conjure the words. Finally, I turned to Rob, "Kaldur sacrificed himself for me. For all of us."

My knees buckled, and I almost hit the floor again. This was too much, how was it even possible to feel this much? J'onn took over explaining what I couldn't, and everything else passed in a blur. Contacting every hero left on Earth, offering them the Cave as a beacon and a homebase. The arrival, dozens of them, some who I had never met before, piling in.

My mind tuned back in for an argument, Rob addressing the five of us, "our next mission is clear. If we believe the aliens have been teleporting their victims—"

Kid cut him off, "we _do_."

Rob turned to him, "then the only reasonable detention facility is here." He pulled up an image of that thorny egg-shaped ship from before, "their Mothership, atop what used to be Smallville." He dropped the hologram, turning to J'onn, ring any bells?"

"No…," he said slowly, "I'm sorry."

Rob turned to Connor, "Superboy, you'll create a distraction."

"No!" M'gann said, turning to Connor with a horrified expression, "he's offering you as a sacrifice. Aqualad would _never_ do that!"

"You're right," Dick said plainly. "Aqualad would sacrifice _himself_ , a _mistake_ that just cost us our _leader_." I swayed, guilt and empathy for the burden now laying on Dick's shoulders washing over me. He was starting to raise his voice, "Superboy is the most likely to be perceived as a threat, motivating the aliens to deploy."

Wally stepped forward, trying to pacify the situation, "worst case, he's teleported _inside_. And we set him free along with Artemis." He paused, stuttering, "and — uh, Aqualad an — and everyone."

Connor and M'gann turned to each other, carrying on a silent conversation. He looked resigned to his fate, and I tuned back out, the next few hours passing in a blur. Someone was leading me to a back room, and I put on a fresh suit, new contacts, new enhancers. I watched dimly from somewhere outside of myself as Roy stocked his quiver, Zatanna and a hero I had just met named Rocket put on their suits, Tula and Garth arrived from Atlantis. I sharpened my claws as Rob strapped on the most utility belts I had ever seen him carry, each lined with gadgets and explosives. His face was drawn and severe, an expression I had only ever seen on Batman painted across it.

When I tuned in again, I was standing in front of a hologram serving as a camera, and M'gann was speaking. "And though we know all seems lost, the one thing the aliens cannot destroy is _hope_."

Connor picked up after her, "hope survives because the battle is _not_ over. Not as long as even _one_ of us is willing to fight."

The hologram panned to Wally, "it doesn't matter how many fall, for new heroes will always rise to carry on. Bringing all their resources, their skills, their talents to bear, to _defeat_ the enemy."

Wally nudged me, and it was my turn. I faced the camera, without a script and without any idea of what to say. I thought of Artemis, of her stoic strength, of Bruce's infinite steadiness, of Selina's composure no matter what happened on a mission. I stepped forward, "though many of you may have suffered losses, we will carry the names of those we loved into this battle. _They_ are who we are fighting for, and so long as we breathe, it is our duty to honour their sacrifice and create a future they could be proud of."

Rob stepped in front of all of us, voice rising, "the people of Earth _will_ survive this. We will rebuild, and we will thrive. Never doubt, and never forget. The Earth will _never_ surrender."

The camera held on our stoic faces for just a few more seconds, and then fizzled out.

It was time to put our money where our mouths were.

* * *

Rob stood before us, atop the stump of what had been a tree of epic proportions, monitoring the Mothership through binoculars. M'gann stepped forward, her and J'onn the first to play their part in this plan. Dick whispered something to her I didn't quite catch, and she and Martian Manhunter flew into the sky, the sight of their clasped hands the last thing I could make out of them before they camouflaged themselves.

I waited with bated breath as seconds ticked by, the wind stinging my ears. I fought the urge to cup my hands over them, fiddling with my utility belt for the five millionth time. Something heavy hung in the air, disturbed only by M'gann's voice in my mind, " _ready and in position_."

With a nod from Robin, Connor launched into the air and landed on the side of the Mothership, pieces crumbling beneath his weight. I lost sight of him as smoke billowed into the air. I could barely breathe, only relaxing somewhat as I found him pulling a cannon out of the ship. Rob's voice flashed through the link, " _careful! Don't disconnect the power source!_ "

Connor held the cannon aloft, bellowing into the night, "alright you glorified trespassers! You wanna see how a _real_ alien fights?!"

That same searing light bloomed in the mouth of the cannon he was holding, launching forward to destroy some kind of alien machine clinging to the wall of the Mothership. Two of them exploded in a burst of smoke and flame, and a metallic whirring filled the air. Before Connor could move, thousands of alien ships filled the sky.

Wally tugged Dick and I under his arms, Connor's voice echoing in my skull, " _now or never!_ "

The world blurred beneath me, wind stinging my eyes to tears as Wally ran us towards the edge of the cliff. For a moment we were weightless, flying through the air as Kid jumped, his legs still kicking in the air. And then we fell. Wally let go of us, and we tumbled towards the metal of the alien's loading dock. Tucking my knees up, I rolled on impact, barely coming into a crouch before I was up and running again.

The three of us ducked into a shadowed alcove just as another ship flew out of the loading dock. My heart thumped rapidly in my chest, and all I could smell around me was the alien ship, the strange nothingness of their scent mind-boggling. It wasn't quite the same as a hospital, where all scent was subsumed into the tang of disinfectant. It was just empty… like an old room that hadn't been opened for decades, without the smell of dust and antiques. Rob curled around the edge of the alcove, voice sharp, " _way's clear, go!_ "

We sprinted for the next bit of cover, a floor-to-ceiling metal pillar about a meter in diameter, connecting what looked like giant pipes. I was squished between Rob's back and Wally's chest as we pressed ourselves against it, and I could feel their heartbeats hammering a mile a minute. The loud buzzing whirr of an alien machine passed us, and we flipped to view it. It was a security camera of some kind, flying through the air with tripod legs and a big, glowing red eye.

Buzzing in my left ear. The hairs on the back of my neck barely had time to stand up before a crash echoed behind us. I whipped around, a shock of blue sparks and smoke trailing through the air. J'onn and M'gann landed in front of us, just barely discernible in their camouflage modes. Rob gestured for them to follow, and we tore through the halls of the Mothership, towards the centre. That's where Kid estimated the holding cells would be, as well as a way to destroy it.

I slowed as the sound of M'gann and J'onn's footfalls behind us stopped. A slight twinge through the mindlink, and then pure shock from M'gann, " _no… he's gone!_ "

Pivoting, I ran back to her, Wally and Dick right behind me. I wrapped my arms around her as she crumpled to the floor, waves of grief and desperation radiating from her mind. She was already crying, and Wally fell to his knees next to us, " _it's alright. We'll find him with Artemis. I know it_."

His voice was so warm, so hopeful. J'onn's was not, " _no. My mind is clearer now. The disintegration beam is exactly that. There is no detention facility, no prisoners to rescue._ " Wally stood, face growing stormy as Martian Manhunter continued, " _Our mission holds no purpose_."

" _No!_ _You're wrong!_ ", his voice was growing increasingly frantic, " _The Zeta radiation proves she's alive!_ _She's!_ —"

Rob grabbed him by the collar, cutting Wally off and forcing him to look him in the eyes, " _stop it KF! I've been scanning for League and Team signals since we got inside, they're_ not _here_." Wally's face fell, and my own grief rose up in me like a wave. They were dead. All of them. Sacrificed to the hordes of alien invaders. Rob's voice was regretful, " _Artemis is gone_. _But our mission_ still _holds purpose; to destroy the Mothership_."

My resolve solidified. I was going to save the world or die trying. Either way, I could grieve when this was over, or I would be dead and not have to deal with it. But right now, I needed to get over myself and put the mission, put _Earth_ first. Helping M'gann to her feet, I brushed her hair behind her ear. Maybe the last affectionate thing I would ever do for her.

We started running again, only stopping to let Rob hack his way past the biggest door I had yet to see in the whole of the ship. A wall of heat hit me as soon as it slid open, an orange-y glow filling the room. We ducked behind a giant exposed pipe. It only came up to my chest crouching, hardly the best cover, but it was cover nonetheless. We stared out at a giant golden-orange ball, opened in the centre to reveal nothing but coppery light, the rest of it surrounded by horizontal and vertical platforms. They were arranged strangely, weaving in and out of one another to look almost like some kind of markings. Rob tapped away at his holo-comp, " _this is the power core. Blow this and the whole Mothership blows._ "

We ran towards it, and I followed Dick all the way to edge of the nearest platform. Something was… tugging at us, and I watched in horror as at first Dick's cape flew out towards the core, and then the rest of him. Stretching out a hand, I grabbed at his collar as he fell to the ground of the platform. I dug my claws as deep as I could into the smooth metal, barely making a groove. Someone grabbed my arm, Wally, but the extra weight just added to the gravity being exerted on us. My claws slipped loose of the metal, the scraping of them against the platform going all the way up my arm as we tumbled towards the core. Swinging onto Rob's back, I shifted out of the way as he reached for his grappling hook. It flew across the room, hitting the edge of a platform with a loud clang. We stopped dead, the force of it snapping the cord of Robin's grappling hook like a whip and flinging us up and down.

I felt the muscles of Dick's arm and back strain under the pressure of holding on to the grappling hook with me on his back and Wally grabbing his hand. The metallic stomping of one of those alien security robots creeping around the edge of a platform filled my ears.

Curling one arm around Dick's neck, I uncoiled my bullwhip and snapped it at the sentinel. It wrapped around what would have been its neck, and I _pulled_. Its pincers came free of the platform, and it flew towards the burning centre of the core. Tugging, I yanked my whip free of it just as it fell through the maze of platforms. A hissing noise filled the room, the sound of metal melting. Dick panted just below my ear, his voice filling the mindlink, " _good one_."

M'gann and J'onn appeared above us like heaven-sent angels, M'gann's hands flying to her temples and eyes glowing as she used her powers. The tension immediately eased from Rob, her telekinesis holding us and the grappling hook aloft and gently lowering us to a safe section of the core. Heat radiated from beneath whatever material was covering the strange power source beneath. It was still hot, the warmth soaking into the rubber of my boots, but it wasn't at melt-entire-metal-robots levels.

Dick unstrapped the explosives I had watched Connor clasp around his chest just hours before. He flipped them down onto the core, fingers flying as he primed them to explode. Wally looked at him, some kind of haunted acceptance on his face, " _you knew. You knew from the beginning why we were really here_."

I thought back to Dick's non-committal 'maybe', the grim look on his face. He could have known from the beginning, but something told me he had just refused to hope. Bruce had drilled Murphy's Law into our heads. Expect, plan for, and brace yourself for the worst possible conclusion. Always. Dick didn't confirm or deny anything, turning away from us as a timer popped up on his holo-comp, " _four minutes, let's go_."

M'gann lifted us up off the core, and we hit the ground running. Tearing past the still empty doorway, we wove through the tangled mess of halls ever outwards. The persistent beeping of Rob's timer was a constant reminder of the threat we had laid behind us. We ran and ran and ran until I no longer felt the pounding my feet against metal, the brush of air past my face. We ran until we came to a door that closed on us. Wally glared at the door, " _perfect_."

The distant clanging of alien robot sentinels no longer distant, but very, very close. I whipped around just in time to watch one of them prepare to charge, the crackle of copper-coloured energy sparking around its eye. We leaped and rolled to the side as the beam hit where we had stood, smoke rising in a giant plume that filled the air and choked me. Rob looked down at his timer, face growing severe, " _sixteen seconds and counting._ " He turned to M'gann and J'onn, " _Manhunter, take Miss Martian and go_."

M'gann's indignation flickered across the mindlink, " _no! We won't leave you_."

" _That's an order_ ," Rob retaliated, " _we'll follow as soon as we blow those doors_."

She sent me a last, heartbroken glance before flipping her hood up and shifting through the floor. Dick, Wally, and I shared a nod. We had nothing to live for but the dead, and we knew what had to be done. We had a mission to complete.

We raced against the robots, Rob throwing a birdarang as we ducked out of our little shadowed niche. I curled my whip around the neck of a robot, pulling it to slam into the one next to it. An explosion sounded from deeper with the Mothership, and it was all over. I turned, catching sight of Dick and Wally a few feet away. I had to do something, say something. For the first time in my life, I was speechless. All I could think about was how much I loved them. The warmth Wally invoked in my chest, the fond memories and fake pickup lines he had ditched since meeting first M'gann and now Artemis; even every time he had rested his elbow on my head like I was a counter now filled me with affection.

And Dick. Dick. Robin. Rob. My Little Boy Blue. A swell of love for him washed over me. For every conversation we had carried on without speaking at all. For every misadventure, every fight, every movie marathon, every time he helped me with my math homework, every nickname, every summer filled with light and life.

For the fact that he had filled _me_ with light and life. He had become my anchor, my safe place, my home. Neither the Manor, nor Selina's apartment, nor the Cave could ever compare to the sense of belonging I felt with him. He had taken me, as a small, bleeding, bruised thing and taught me that it was okay to enjoy things, to laugh, to feel safe. To love people, to let them love me. And I loved him, beyond any kind I had ever felt for anyone before.

My vision blurred with tears as more explosions rocked the Mothership, death looming ever closer. I tumbled to the side as the room we were in shook, just narrowly missing one of the robots' pincer. The metal floor was vibrating, and I looked up from my position on the floor to meet Dick's wide eyes. The mindlink was still barely there, and the shout I sent across it was more of a whisper, one that I didn't know if he would hear, " _wherever we're going after this, I'll find you_."

Fire billowed into the room, and a sensation I had never felt before rocked me. It was almost like being transported by Zeta Tubes, but instead of being just disorienting and faintly unpleasant, it was excruciating. I had never experienced pain like it in my life. The sensation of both burning and falling away. All I could smell was burning hair, gunpowder, and rancid roasted meat.

My last sight was Dick and Wally. Their faces mottled red, pink, brown, black, the skin burning away. Horror and agony painted across them.

And then there was nothing.

* * *

White. There was nothing but white.

I was suspended in motion and time. Weightless. Floating. Empty. Where was I? Who was I? What was happening to me?

* * *

Voices whispered into the white, hints of soft colour. Gray, low, quiet, gravelly. Bright yellow in sobs. A gentle green, murmuring softly. I latched onto a soft blue, grave but gentle. I knew that voice.

* * *

I wasn't expecting to be introduced to afterlife lying down.

The thing beneath me was long, flat, hard, and metallic. I was crying. Why was I crying? I had no frame of reference, just a feeling like someone had shoved a hand into my chest, grabbed my heart, and _squeezed_.

I sat up, breath coming in sharp gasps, sobs shaking me. Dick, Wally, Artemis, Kaldur, Connor, probably even M'gann at this point. Everyone I had ever loved was dead.

I was alone. Where even was I?

The mission room in the Cave. The rest of the team was scattered around on their own metal beds, harrowed expressions on all their faces.

Artemis was alive. Wally was alive. Connor, and M'gann, and Kaldur were all alive. And so Dick…

He was sitting near Bruce, sweat pouring off him. I pitched myself off the slab, a twinge of pain stabbing through my ankle. I just kept going, tripping over myself and sobbing all the way.

Dick turned, surprise evident just from his mouth, those damned sunglasses covering his eyes. I slammed into his chest, vision a blurry mess and entire body shaking. My arms were curled around his neck and my nose was buried in his shoulder before he could react, and all around me was his sandalwood-clove smell. The smell of home.

He was alive. He was alive. He was alive.

He clutched at me too, and the unmistakable sensation of tears hitting my hair told me he was crying just like I was. His voice was rough and scratchy, like he hadn't used it in months, "you're _alive_."

Bruce's voice sounded from my left, "what happened in there?"

He was talking to J'onn, who was clutching his head in pain, "the exercise… it all went wrong."

Rob spoke from above my head, " _exercise_?"

"Try to remember," Batman said commandingly. As he kept speaking, the tiniest hint of a memory twitched in the back of my mind, "what you experience was a _training exercise_. Manhunter psychically linked the seven of you within an artificial reality. You all knew this going in. What you didn't know is that it was a train-for-failure exercise. No matter what the team accomplished, the scenario was designed to grow worse. Still, you were aware _nothing_ was real. Including the deaths of the entire Justice League."

"That is why you hardly grieved. Even when Wolf was disintegrated before your eyes," J'onn said. He was right, hadn't I just pushed the fact that so many of the people I loved, trusted, and relied upon had died to the back of my mind? He continued, "but all that changed. When Artemis died."

The girl in question had her head hung low, clutching at her own wrists with white fingers. I didn't miss the dismayed look Wally sent her way. J'onn kept going, voice now even gentler, "though consciously Miss Martian knew it was not real, her _subconscious_ mind could not make that distinction. She forgot it was only an exercise. And her subconscious took control, making all of you forget too."

We all turned to M'gann. She stood in the centre of our metal slabs, hands held in front of her chest, face devastated. She looked back at all of us, tears starting to well in her eyes, "I — I'm so sorry."

"This isn't her fault!" Connor shouted, getting defensive on her behalf, "why didn't you stop the exercise?!"

"We tried," Manhunter refuted. "M'gann had… a _death grip_ on the scenario. Even Artemis — who should have awakened upon her death — was so convinced she had passed, she slipped into a coma. I realized I would have to arrest control from Miss Martian's subconscious from within. But upon entering the reality, I was overwhelmed by your collective emotion. There was too much… _noise_ to think clearly. To remember why I was there. The deaths of Aqualad and Superboy helped; but only when the Mothership exploded, and Robin, Catgirl, and Kid Flash were silenced, did my mind clear enough to remember my true purpose. To shock M'gann out of the exercise, before your comas became permanent. My apologies. I had no idea a training exercise could be so dangerous." His eyes shifted to M'gann, who was standing now with her head in her hands, turned away from us. His voice grew devastated, "so _damaging_."

J'onn turned to walk away as Captain Marvel wrapped his arms around M'gann, but he stumbled and had to be caught by Batman and Red Tornado before he hit the floor. Bruce's voice was quiet, "as bad as all that?"

Dick's arms tightened around me, and all I could think was _yes_.

J'onn voiced my thoughts, "perhaps worse."

"Yet this is not what troubles you," RT said.

"Make no mistake," Manhunter said, straightening to his feet, "my niece is untrained and cannot be held responsible for this. For _our_ debacle."

Everyone else had turned their attention to M'gann, held up only by Captain Marvel's strength as she sobbed. But J'onn's voice held a dark promise. Bats looked Manhunter in the eye, "no one blames her. But clearly we underestimated her abilities."

J'onn turned his gaze to his niece, "you _understated_. In terms of raw power, she has the strongest telepathic mind I have _ever_ encountered. Stronger by far than mine."

I tuned out at that point, pressing a quick kiss to Dick's cheek before slipping from his arms. My legs almost gave beneath me as I came to stand, but I walked shakily to M'gann, wrapping my arms around her. Marvel let her slip from his arms then, and we both sank to our knees. Her sobs were soaking the cotton of my shirt, and I found myself beginning to cry again too, even as I tried to comfort her.

My voice was rough, but managed to come out gentle, "it's okay, M'gann. We love you. Not one of us blames you. If anything this just proves how much you love us."

She just cried harder, and I shushed her in vain, stroking her hair. Before I knew it, Artemis had thrown herself on my back. Her body was shaking, but I didn't think she was crying. Next came Wally, his scent of cedar and bay leaves filling my nose. Then Connor, then Kaldur, then Robin, until finally we were all a tangled mess of limbs and bodies, crying emanating from the whole of us, like we were one, sole, grieving creature.

One thing was for certain; nothing would ever be the same.

* * *

 **So how was that? Hopefully not awful. Writing this was definitely a challenge. The pacing was an _absolute bitch_ , and I really wanted to create a feeling of something being just a little bit off without Arabella actually realizing she was in a simulation. Her death scene was so hard to write, especially as there is literally no consensus as to what A) dying in an explosion feels like, B) what burning human bodies smell like. Here's to hoping I captured the feeling well enough. **

**Reviews!**

 **tjgrov17: Thank you! Sorry for the wait, I hope you liked this!**

 **KingTritium: I'm sorry you feel that way. I'll do my best to make sure you don't feel jarred from here on out.**

 **HephaestusBuilds: Thank you very much! I actually really despise love triangles in most books (so many are _so_ contrived, especially when it's a two-boys-fighting-for-same-girl type of thing. You'll notice a lack of catfighting between Arabella and Zatanna. (Heh. Puns.)**

 **Briezy23: Oh my god thank you. 1) When you're ready, publish your story and let me know it's out. 2) I actually really liked Zatanna in my first watch of the show as a twelve-year-old. It was only when I went back as a teenager that I realized that she had some majorly annoying tendencies and that her and Robin's relationship was kind of bullshit. I still think her characterization can be considered logical, if not kind of trope-y, but I'm hoping to flesh her out a little. Thank you for the compliments on Arabella's development, the last chapter was definitely a change for her. She's not used to being Dick's second choice, haha. Never apologize for a long review, they're my favourites! I hope I did this episode justice for you!**

 **Jayy: I'm not telling you that your thoughts and opinions are irrelevant. I was under the impression that you're the kind of reader who dismisses this story on the basis of it being a RobinxOC or RobinxCatgirl story, with no further analysis. I can see the argument for the platonic nature of their relationship, but that will change in due time. Because of their age (13 going on 14) I feel uncomfortable writing anything like what someone might call sexual tension between them, because they're literal fetuses. I won't spoil, but there are some big changes coming, especially after the end of season 1 when I start to diverge seriously from canon. I hope you stick around long enough to see that, and thank you for the compliments on Arabella xx.**

 **A Deathless Song: First things first, love your username. Secondly, thank you so much! A lot of Arabella's season one arc is fleshing her out, establishing her in-universe, and establishing both her relationships with other characters and future conflict/themes. Hope the wait wasn't too long!**

 **C.B Weasely: Thank you! I really can't wait to flesh out Zatanna and Arabella's dynamic (shit goes down). I love the idea of having a brother-and-sister relationship between Kaldur and Arabella. I think it really disproves the boys-and-girls-can't-be-friends thing that admittedly some people could shove this story into. Kaldur is just so calm and stable, and I think it's nice for Arabella to have an emotional rock like that, similarly to what Dick is like for her, without the additional confusing feelings later on, and Kaldur can lean on her too. They're really going to start understanding each other what with their mutual cases of at-the-moment unrequited love. Thank you, thank you, thank you, and I hope you love this chapter!**

 **Lorien Legacy: Thank you!**

 **So that's it for reviews, I hope you all loved this chapter, and hopefully I'll put out a new one soon (I'm about to start working on it, get ready for ANGST.)**


	17. Disordered

**GOTHAM**

 _ **October 20, 14:46 EDT**_

* * *

Artemis jolted to her feet, knocking _Much Ado About Nothing_ to the wayside. She hadn't been reading it, and neither had I, opting instead to analyze her bloody cuticles. She was picking at them now, and the blisters her bow left. They were always popping, trailing blood and pus down her hands. The threat of infection kept me wary, always inspecting the little injuries.

Townsend jumped at his desk as she rose, and she didn't even wait for his permission as she headed for the door with her bag, "I need to go to the bathroom, sir."

Rising from my own desk, I followed her without a word and without protest from Townsend. There was no sight of her in the hallway, but I already knew exactly where she was.

She hadn't bothered to close the stall door this time, and I slipped in wordlessly, locking it behind us. Her hair was already pulled back in her typical low ponytail, so I just kneeled by her side and rubbed her back as she gagged into the toilet. It was mostly bile, as per usual, meaning she _still_ wasn't eating properly.

Not like I could say much.

I murmured soft reassurances in her ear, her entire body shaking with each convulsion. Eventually, she paused and leaned back, settling against the wall. I took the water bottle from her bag, offering her a drink, "what was it this time?"

She took a swig, swishing the water around in her mouth before spitting it back out. I handed her a swath of the shitty zero-point-fuck-all ply toilet paper to blow her nose with, and she accepted it with the barest of smiles before speaking, "the same. One minute I was reading, the next I was back in the moment before I died. And then afterwards. The… empty."

The white space that had enveloped me for those brief minutes flashed across my mind. What had it been like for Artemis all that time? Had she seen what I saw? I didn't ask. Instead, I tossed her throw-up stained toilet paper in the garbage and helped her to her feet, "is that all?"

She bit her lip, seemingly conflicted, "Wally came to my room, that night."

We had all stayed at the Cave the night of the training exercise, not ready to go home or to leave each other. I suppressed any kind of excitement, it wasn't the time for that kind of thing. "Oh?"

"He was… really freaked out. I think he had tried to sleep, but he had nightmares. You know what it's like." I nodded, letting her continue, "anyway, he was all over the place. Kept ranting about how sorry he was, that he should have run out and saved me, and then maybe this whole thing could have been avoided."

"What did you tell him?"

"That he was being a dumbass," she said with a snort, turning to wash her hands in the sink, "if he had run, he would've gotten hit too."

"He was really upset after you…" I searched for a word besides _died_ , "got hit. I've never seen him so angry and worked up. He was genuinely — and I mean genuinely — ready to kill someone."

Her gaze met mine, "what do you think that's about?"

 _He's in love with you_. The thought tingled at the tip of my tongue, but she wasn't ready to know that. Much less in the kind of headspace to process and understand it properly. I forced myself to shrug, "who knows. The mind of Kid Flash is a strange, strange place."

'Mis laughed under her breath, "talk about it."

I packed up her shit, handing her bag off to her, "we should get back to class."

She sighed, but acquiesced. As we entered the room, Townsend mouthed a quick, ' _you okay?_ ' at me. I nodded, but Evangeline hissed at me from her seat as I passed, "is Miss Scholarship pregnant or something? Does birth control not fit in the budget?"

I stopped dead. Cold rage crashing through me, shredding every last inch of composure I might've had. Leaning in real close to Evangeline's face, the tiniest hint of my old Narrows accent slipped out in my anger, "you better watch who the fuck you're talking to Montgomery. If you start spreading shit around, I'm going to make sure that your daddy has to pay for your second nose job. And for the record," I lied, "she's on her period. I know you failed Biology last year, but hopefully you can put two and two together based on your knowledge of your own fucking anatomy. You sure as hell use it often enough."

Her cheeks coloured, gaze hardening, but I was already back in my seat before she could say anything back. Artemis raised her eyebrows at me, but I waved her concern away. She didn't need another source of stress right now, and that was practically Evangeline's fucking job title.

We picked our books up again, and the room descended into peaceful quiet once more.

* * *

 **GOTHAM**

 _ **October 23, 02:03 EDT**_

* * *

Heat. Pain. Burning hair. Gunpowder. The smell of cooking meat —

I jackknifed awake, feet hitting the floor immediately in a desperate bid to get to the toilet. I barely managed to open the lid before I threw up what little food I had managed to shovel in my mouth at supper. Thank god Selina was out of town. She had been hesitant to go, not wanting to leave me in my current state, but duty called, and Bruce had promised to watch over me.

Clawing my hair away from my face, I retched, and retched, and retched. Tears started to blur my eyesight, and the burning of bile in my throat was going up my nose and making me choke. Eventually the vomiting passed, and I fell in a heap on the marble tile of my ensuite. The cool of it kissed my fevered skin. My heart thumped rapidly in my chest; a reminder that I was still alive. Standing, I turned on the tap, rinsing out my mouth and forcing water up my nose in a desperate attempt to flush out that burning smell. The sting of drowning hit me, and I started to hack as water flooded my sinuses.

I didn't feel… real. My body was trapped in the sensation of exploding; shredding to pieces and burning up in the same moment. I needed to move, to feel my muscles stretch and pull. Running back to my room, I pulled on the nearest pair of jeans and shirt, throwing my leather jacket on over it and pulling on my leather boots. The keys to the motorcycle were in the dish in the kitchen, as per usual, and I grabbed them and went out the door without a second thought.

The cool night air was exactly what I needed, and I was tempted to flip up the visor of my helmet just to feel the wind hit my face and sting my eyes. But I had places to be, and I wove through the late-night Gotham traffic, heading towards the Robert Kane Memorial. Towards Wayne Manor. Towards Dick.

My hands tightened on the handlebars, the memory of his dying face turning my stomach again. The expression of pure agony, his skin burning and falling away. The exposed muscle. Melting fat dripping down his uncovered cheekbone. I sped up, ripping down the mostly abandoned highway. The seawater beneath me smelled just faintly enough of the actual stuff to remind me of nights at the Cave. Of warmth, and love, and safety.

I pulled over just outside the range where someone from inside the Manor would have been able to hear my engine. Turning off the bike and ditching it in some foliage, I opted to walk the rest of the way. Scaling the ivy-covered brick was easier than breathing, but I stopped myself about halfway up to assess the situation. Was I seriously about to climb up to Dick's window Edward Cullen-style just to make sure he hadn't spontaneously died? No. It was definitively not Edward Cullen-esque, because I was here to make sure my best friend was okay, then get the hell out of dodge. Not creep around the bedroom of a girl I barely knew for the whole night.

Scaling the last few metres of the wall, Dick's curtain flew out of nowhere to hit me in the face. I almost toppled off the side of the Manor, tightening my grip on the ivy. He had left his window open, and upon peering inside, I saw that he had fallen asleep at his desk. He was still in jeans and a hoodie, the lamp on his desk the only thing illuminating the room.

My roll into the room was near silent, and I closed the window back up behind me with a quiet _snick_. I paused, turning my head in one silent, fluid motion to make sure I didn't wake Dick. He was still sleeping.

I examined the papers he had been working on. Math equations. Not homework, these were too advanced, even for Dick's AP class. He was distracting himself, the same way we all were. Artemis had opted to spend all her time reading and practicing with her bow. M'gann had never cooked so much in her life. Wally ate everything M'gann made and drafted up experiments, going through pages of paper on complex chemical formulas. Kaldur swam, and swam, and swam, and when he wasn't swimming he was reading or practicing with his waterbearers, claiming it had been too long since he worked on his magical skills. Connor trained, or worked on motorcycles in the hangar. And Dick did things like this, spending hours on calculus problems, or proofs, or coding.

He was too heavy to move to his bed without waking him up. Instead, I tugged the papers out from beneath his head and arranged them neatly on the other side of the desk, replacing them with one of his pillows. I grabbed the big, soft blanket off his bed too, wrapping it gently around his shoulders. He was still dead to the world, strange for his light sleeping habits. Exhaustion hung on his face, dark circles there like he hadn't slept in months.

But he was alive. The steady rise and fall of his chest was comforting. He was breathing, his heart was still beating, he wasn't burning alive in an alien ship. I clicked the lamp off and slipped back out the window. Maybe I could finally get some sleep.

* * *

 **MOUNT JUSTICE**

 _ **October 23, 17:21 EDT**_

* * *

Silence was heavy in the air. The whole of the team had been called to the Cave, not for a mission, and not for a fun hangout.

For therapy.

I was familiar with the concept by now. I had been seeing Dinah for months. But everything we talked about had happened to me _years_ ago. I had spent the better half of my life processing it. This wasn't something I could talk about with her.

I was on the couch with Dick, curled into a ball with my head against his shoulder. He was more relaxed, but that same exhaustion I had seen in him last night was etched into everything he did. M'gann was making a cake, stirring the batter almost absentmindedly. I couldn't tell if she was worried about Connor, who was the first to enter Dinah's room, or if she was thinking about the exercise. These days it seemed like all we did was think about the exercise. Wally was sitting with his chin in his hands, half-lying on the counter. Kaldur leaned against the cabinets on the inside of the kitchen, eyes flicking to our morose faces every few moments like he was trying to distract himself. Artemis was leaning against the couch, facing away from all of us.

Time passed. It could have been hours, days, or minutes. But eventually Dinah came back out, with Connor nowhere to be seen. She didn't speak for a moment, her gaze passing over us like she was analyzing something. "Connor is taking some time for himself," she murmured, "Artemis, if you could come with me?"

'Mis detached herself from the couch slowly, following Dinah at the pace of a snail. I reached out to grab her hand, squeezing it lightly. I tried to force how I was feeling into my eyes, that protective support. She gave me a nod in response, turning her eyes to Dinah's back as the doorway swallowed her. The door clanged shut, and the room was silent again.

* * *

When Artemis came back out, her face was stormy. I knew that look by now. It was her, 'I-don't-want-to-admit-anything-but-that-was-a-fair-point' face. She was heading for her room, and I followed her. Wally sent me a soft look, and I knew what he was asking without him having to say it. _Take care of her. Make sure she's okay_. I nodded, and entered Artemis' room the same way I had been following her into bathroom stalls for the past week.

She was on her bed, leaned back against the headboard. I put myself at the foot of the mattress, sitting cross-legged. The last time we had been like this, she had told me about her family. Her father, her sister, her mother. Now I was hoping she would open up again.

We sat in silence for a long time, but eventually, she broke it, "it's my fault."

I wanted to refute that. To grab her, and hug her, and tell her _of course_ it wasn't. Instead I sat, not saying anything, and she kept talking, "I should have been faster, smarter, better. If I had never died, M'gann's subconscious wouldn't have taken over, and none of you would have gone through what you did." She was crying now, shoulders shaking, "and I'm so fucked up by all of it, but I have no right to be. I was barely even _there_. But I keep seeing Ollie get incinerated, and feeling myself die, and feeling what it was _like_ to die."

"You have every right," I said softly. "You _died_ Artemis. That's been your number-one fear since you could toddle. I was only like that for a moment, but god, I can't imagine what it would have been like for _hours_. You saw some of the only people you trust get killed. What you went through, it was traumatic. You're traumatized. You have every right to be."

She reached out for me, pulling me into a hug. Pleasant surprise at her trust in me bloomed in my chest, and I wrapped my arms around her, rocking back and forth. She just sobbed into my shirt, folding herself over to fit into the loop of my much-smaller frame. I hummed some French lullaby Selina always sung to me after nightmares, focused on comforting her. She cried, and cried, and cried, gasping for breath between sobs. I had no doubts that everyone could hear her back in the living room, but I just upped my humming into full-out singing, the half-remembered French gliding off my tongue with unexpected ease.

We stayed like that for a while. Her sobs subsided into shaking, and eventually I let her go when the shaking shifted into long, slow breaths. She pulled back, wiping at her face. I rubbed her shoulder, "why don't you go get some tea?"

She nodded, and we reentered the impromptu waiting room. I watched her make herself some matcha, satisfied when she sat next to Wally. Kaldur walked out of the door then, shame and guilt clear on his face. Dinah stood behind him, still seeming concerned. She looked at KF, "Wally, you next please."

He grabbed a bowl of popcorn off the counter, sending us all a last, resigned look. And then the door closed.

* * *

I grabbed Kaldur before he could zip off to the water, taking him to the 'back door' of the Cave. The sea air seemed to comfort him, his shoulders easing. I plopped down on the edge of the rock, looking up at him, "talk to me."

He took a seat, breathing a long sigh, "I almost resigned as leader of the Team. I still desire to do so."

It made sense. He had never wanted to be our leader, never wanted that burden. But he bore it so that no one else needed to. I rested a hand on his shoulder, "you can lean on us Kaldur."

"It is not the pressure of leading that I wish to be rid of," he said, "I am unfit. I abandoned you. I forced Robin into a position of power he was not ready for." His pale eyes met mine, "but how could I not save them? By all rights I should have put myself through the Zeta instead of you, but how could I watch you die knowing I could have saved you? What kind of leader would sacrifice their followers before themselves?"

"Sacrifice is necessary," I said. "I would have died happy knowing that I was saving you. I would have died happy saving _any_ of you. I understand the urge to protect your teammates Kaldur, I understand that better than maybe anyone. You were between a rock and a hard place, and you chose the option that maybe made you the better, more compassionate person… but maybe not the better leader."

"Then how can I continue to lead the Team?"

"You'll know better for next time. This was intended to be a _training exercise_." I laid my head on his shoulder, "you're still young Kaldur, you don't have to be perfect. Remember what I said to you last time? You're not Atlas. The fate of the world doesn't depend on you holding the sky on your shoulders."

His voice was rough, "Robin is the better leader, but he is much too young for me to hand him this burden."

I clenched my jaw, unsure what to say. Dick had known, had snapped at M'gann when she had said that Kaldur would never have sacrificed Connor. He had been right, our leader was stolen, and we were left stripped bare and unsteady. I propped my chin up on Kaldur's shoulder, "I don't know if Dick will ever be ready to lead. I don't even think being ready to lead is something that happens to someone. I think he understands that now, after taking the reins. It isn't easy, it isn't even desirable, and every day you're going to be hit with something you're unprepared for. That's why leaders have others they can go to for support and advice. All that goes for you too, Kaldur. There was nothing you could have done to be prepared for that exercise. You did what you thought was right at the moment, what else can we ask of you?"

"It may have been morally correct," he said, "but it was not what was right for the Team at the moment. I could have saved you all trauma if I had not left you directionless. I could have saved Robin that weight."

"There's no such thing as a perfect leader, Kaldur. Hell, _Batman_ makes mistakes. And they cost him. Your mistakes are going to cost you too, but you can't let them keep you from your duty."

He sighed, "I suppose you are right."

I flashed him a smile, "when am I ever not?" My voice softened, and I laid my head back down on his shoulder, "and Kaldur?"

"Mhm?"

"Thank you for sacrificing yourself for me, but if you ever do that again I will resurrect you and kick your ass into next Tuesday."

He chuckled, his laughter jostling my head, "duly noted."

* * *

Getting Wally to follow me wasn't difficult.

He had come back, and Dick was gone in his place. My heart ached for my best friend, but I had to focus on KF right now. I stood in the doorway of the living room, hands on my hips. He followed, grumbling as we headed towards the mission room, "what, are you coming for Dinah's job?"

I rolled my eyes, "I just know you probably didn't tell her jack shit. Now, when are you going to look what we went through in the face?"

"Like you can say anything," he spat, "have you opened up to anyone about it? No. You just play baby shrink with everyone else and ignore how you feel."

"This isn't _about_ me," I hissed, "it's about _you_. About _you_ and how you were fucking acting during that exercise."

"I don't wanna talk about it," he eyed the circle on the floor, "I wanna spar."

I tugged off my leather jacket, throwing it on the floor, "you wanna spar? Okay, let's spar."

We entered the circle, and Wally was flying at me before the floor could even light up to tally our scores. I dodged, rolling to the side as he skidded on his heels, "why the fuck were you so upset when Artemis died Wally?"

He wheeled around, managing to clip me on the shoulder with a punch as I twisted away from him, "what part of _I don't wanna fucking talk about it_ was unclear to you?"

"Where did all that anger come from?" I asked, landing a hit to his leg, "why did you get so venomous?"

"BECAUSE SHE GOT TAKEN AWAY FROM ME," he roared in my face. We were standing stock still now, his chest heaving with heavy breaths despite the fact he should have barely been winded by now. He spoke in a whisper, "I couldn't save her. I couldn't save _any_ of you."

"You can't save everyone, Kid."

"I can damn well try," he said, "and I didn't. _I_ should have been the first one to die. Not her."

His eyes were welling up, and damn, didn't I understand that feeling? Hadn't that been something I had tortured myself with late at night? I just nodded at him, "I know. I know."

"I had to watch everyone die one by one, had to watch them get picked off and keep going, knowing I couldn't do a damn thing about it."

He fell to his knees then, shaking, and I joined him on the floor, "I know. I know KF, I know."

Dick dragged me into the hallway before I could demand he go anywhere with me. He was shaking, voice unsteady, "I told her I don't want to be Batman anymore."

I blinked. This information wasn't necessarily new to me. I knew Dick, I knew he didn't have the brutal tunnel-vision Bruce did when it came to missions, where the ends would always justify the means. But I hadn't expected him to give up on being Batman completely. Tossing all of that to the wayside, I furrowed my eyebrows at him, "so?"

"What if she _tells him_?" His voice was low, and fearful.

Bruce had tried. Had forced Dick to wear sunglasses and never tell anyone his birthday, or about his past, or open up. And I had my issues with how Bruce treated people, how he seemed to view them as tools in one moment and as friends in another. How he seemed to see Dick not as his son at times, but as his soldier. But he couldn't squash the _empathy_ that Dick had, and my mind flashed back to my conversation with Kaldur. Did a leader really need to sacrifice it all for the sake of the end objective? Or was that just what I had been taught? I pushed up Dick's sunglasses so I could look him in the eye, his dark circles worse even then when I had seen him at two this morning, "calm down. You know Dinah better than that. She would _never_. And if Bruce somehow riddles it out? Fuck him. He can't decide what you do with your life."

Dick paused, "so you don't care that I don't want to be Batman?"

"I've known for a long time that you were never going to be _the_ Dark Knight," I murmured, "it's not in you. I don't care if you take up Bruce's mantle and change it, or if you stay Robin, or if you quit being a hero altogether. All I care about is that you're happy. That's all I'm ever going to care about."

Something in his eyes snapped, and his entire posture changed. He seemed to loosen, settle, relax. Tugging me into a hug, he squeezed me so hard the wind was knocked out of me, "thank you, Belle."

"Always," I breathed.

* * *

M'gann was my last case. I knew not to push with Connor, if he wanted to talk to someone, and he decided that someone was me, he would seek out my attention.

She came out of Dinah's room on the verge of tears, and I wrapped an arm around her shoulders, leading her away from everyone else. Dinah called after me, "Arabella, you need to come in. You're next."

I shot her a look over my shoulder, "I'll be there, I have something I need to deal with first."

M'gann and I went to the hangar, her second-favourite part of the Cave apart from the kitchen, probably because it was Connor's favourite. She almost collapsed in my arms as the doors slid shut behind me, already crying, "h- how can you even _look_ at me after what I did?"

I gathered her up, letting her cry into my shoulder, "oh M'gann, none of us blame you." She only sobbed harder, so I continued, "if anything, what you did proves how much you _love_ us. You were so devastated by Artemis' death — Artemis, the newest member of the team — that your subconscious took over the simulation. You have such a big heart M'gann. How could we abandon you when what you did was because you love us?"

"My — my powers," she choked out between sobs, "they're _dangerous_ , and I can't control them. I can never use them again, not if I wind up hurting someone I love."

"That's not the answer," I said. "I don't know what it's like to have superpowers, never will. But every time Wally's injured his leg, he wouldn't shut up about how awful not using his speed was. Not because it meant he couldn't wait until five minutes before an event to get ready, or because it took longer to get pizza or something. He loves running. He loves the speed, loves how it feels like flying. Loves the wind against his face and the feeling of his feet hitting the ground. Always has. Do you really never want to use your powers again? Never connect with something the way you do when you use a mindlink? You talk about the intimacy of it like it's sacred. You never want to experience something like that again?"

"Of course I do," she said, "but how can I? When I know what I'm capable of?"

"You're untrained. Your uncle said as much. And you have _a lot_ of raw power. Do you think Wally came out of that experiment he did having full control of his powers? No. He still doesn't. He used to slam into walls and get whiplash and was so covered in bruises you couldn't tell if his skin was supposed to be white or blue. Now he has more control, but that's because he worked hard with the Flash to get there."

M'gann's voice was weak, "training with Uncle J'onn is what Black Canary suggested too."

"Well," I said, "if we're both telling you that, don't you think it's got to be good advice?"

She sat up, sniffling and wiping at her cheeks, "I guess so."

I offered her my warmest smile, "well, there you go then."

Meeting my gaze, she managed a smile back, "thank you Arabella."

"Anytime."

* * *

The waterfall in Dinah's room was as infuriating as ever. The whisper of it across the rock wall was the only sound in the room, and I was starting to go a little crazy.

Dinah had tried her usual strategy of asking how I was, and other mundane questions designed to both put me at ease and let her know how my general mental health was. But as soon as she had started doubling down, I clammed up. And now we were staring at each other in silence.

She sighed, "Arabella, I can't help you if you won't let me. You know that."

"I don't need help on this one," I said.

"I don't believe that for a minute."

Frustration boiled in my veins, "I _mean_ it. I've got this one handled. Right now, all I care about is helping my friends."

"So are you in denial, or are you just repressing how you feel about the situation."

Silence.

"Arabella," she said, "you cannot use the rehabilitation of the rest of the team as a coping mechanism. They're fine. They're handling themselves. They will continue to see me until we are both in agreement that they no longer need counselling." Her voice took on a softer tone, "this isn't a mission, Arabella. You don't need to protect them right now, you need to protect yourself."

"They're not _ready_ ," I said, my voice breaking, "sure, Artemis and Rob have both experienced trauma before, but they weren't ready for this. I know what this is like, I've been through this before. They need me to be strong."

"None of you were ready for this," Dinah said, "you can't be ready for trauma. And just because you've experienced similar trauma in the past doesn't mean that you were in any way more prepared than the others for what happened to you."

Before I could say anything, a loud crash echoed through the Cave, followed by raised voices. I was up and out the door in an instant, not giving Dinah any time to tell me to stay. The living room/kitchen area was deserted, so I headed towards the sound, my ears leading me to the hangar. When I entered, Superboy was standing with a strange-ass motorcycle, etched with glowing ruins, and Wolf. Batman, Martian Manhunter, Captain Marvel, and Red Tornado were all standing there, along with the rest of the Team.

I pointed at the motorcycle, "what the hell is that?"

Connor looked over at me, "Sphere," he rubbed the back of his neck, "well she was, this is new."

"She?"

His eyes lit up, "that's what I said!"

"Dude," Wally said, face bright for the first time since the exercise, "you could call it the Supercycle!"

Bruce held up a hand, "Superboy. Explain what's happened."

Connor ran through his entire adventure with the 'Forever People', a group of 'New Gods' from an entirely different planet. Their run-in with Intergang, of all things. They were a relatively low-profile gang, from what Tommy told me, but powerful in their own right. When he was finished, I didn't even get a chance to ask questions before Bats started up his own interrogation, and then Connor was taken by Dinah to be psychoanalyzed. The rest of the adults swept out of the room, and we were a left standing around.

Wally was the first to break the silence, "so… pizza?"

* * *

 **GOTHAM**

 _ **October 25, 08:15 EDT**_

* * *

"Happy birthday!"

Selina's voice echoed from my doorway, and I groaned, "it's too early to be awake."

"Nope, I have plans for today," Selina said, pulling my covers away, "starting with a nice breakfast out."

I glared up at her, "it's _my_ birthday."

"And fourteen years ago, _I_ was on my back in excruciating pain giving birth to you. The rest of your day is clear, but you can give me breakfast for mother-daughter time and supper at Bruce's tonight."

"Will Alfred make chocolate cake?"

"Alfred promised to make a chocolate cake with three layers, and the two on top are reserved just for you."

"Well," I said, rolling out of bed, "I suppose I can make that kind of sacrifice."

She laughed, loud and full. I hadn't dared to tell her what was going on with me after the exercise. I had feigned normalcy ever since she had come home. Time and distance from what had happened would fix it. Selina's voice was bright, "don't you want your present?"

Selina had a running plan for every present she was going to give me up until I was twenty-one. Last year she had given me a grand collection of makeup, deeming thirteen old enough to start wearing it, and she had Louboutins planned for fifteen, a car for my sixteenth, so on and so forth. I frowned, "it's pearls this year, isn't it?"

She drew a black velvet box out from behind her back, handing it to me to open, "not just any pearls, South Sea pearls at gem quality. I got them white though, I know how much you hate golden pearls."

I opened the case, the three-piece set taking my breath away. I wasn't much for jewelry, but I had always loved pearls, and this set was _beautiful_. They were perfect in every way, with a pristine colour and lustre, no imperfections, and they were just the right size to be worn casually or with evening wear. Setting the box down on the bed, I flung myself at Selina, " _merci maman_."

Her rose perfume wrapped around me like a cloud as she hugged me back, "any time, _ma belle_."

* * *

 **MOUNT JUSTICE**

 _ **October 25, 12:23 EDT**_

* * *

When I entered the Cave, it was a ghost town. No one was standing in the mission room, and my voice echoed in the silence, "anyone here?"

A beat passed, and then M'gann's voice came from the kitchen, "in here!"

I settled, muscles slackening. There was no danger. Heading towards the kitchen, I called ahead of me, "is it just you? Where is everyone?"

Before she could answer, I hit the kitchen doorway and stopped dead. The room was filled with balloons and streamers, and M'gann was standing a foot in front of me with a set of cupcakes, each one iced to make an overall picture of HAPPY BIRTHDAY. The rest of the team stood behind her, with noisemakers and party hats I was very positive M'gann had forced them to wear.

Tears welled up in my eyes, and my breath curled in my chest. This was so unbelievably sweet. My hand flew to my mouth, "how did you even know it was my birthday?"

Dick raised his hand, "I might have told everyone."

" _Rob_ ," I said, half touched, half annoyed. I had promised not to tell anyone on the Team my birthday either, as a kind of show of solidarity. My resolve solidified, to hell with what Bruce had to say. Come December, Dick would be getting a party of epic proportions.

M'gann handed me the centre cupcake, the candle stuck in it already burning, "make a wish!"

I took the cupcake from her, holding it at a safe distance from my face. What did I wish for? Closing my eyes, I blew outwards; _I wish that I'll never lose any of you_.

Smoke curled up from the candle, and the team went a little a crazy with their noisemakers. Laughing, I pulled the candle from my cupcake to lick off the icing, "thank you guys, this is amazing."

"Oh!" M'gann said, face a little guilty, "we forgot to sing Happy Birthday."

"Don't worry about it, it was perfect," I said, setting the cupcake down to give her a hug. She squeezed back, and I could feel her grin against the skin of my shoulder. Her first grin since the exercise.

Pulling back to eye the cupcakes, I smiled at my teammates, "are you guys going to help eat these or what?"

We fell on them like the hungry teenagers we were. Which lead to eating ridiculous amounts of junk food, watching old movies, and just generally fooling around. Eventually, we collapsed on the new couch in a big, sweaty pile. It was much bigger than the last, and much better suited for movie marathons. My head was in Dick's lap, and my feet were tangled with Artemis', and we were all giggling at a truly terrible pun Wally had made.

Looking around, I had to wonder if my wish was working already.

* * *

 **GOTHAM**

 _ **October 25, 19:58 EDT**_

* * *

I was half-tempted to lap up the remaining bits of cake and icing when I finished my plate. "That was as amazing as usual, Alfred," I said, leaning back in my chair with a groan.

He smiled, "I hope your birthday meal was to your satisfaction, Miss Williams."

"I really don't think I've ever eaten this much in my life." It was true. Between everything I ate at the Cave earlier, and Alfred making a freaking five-course menu with all my favourite foods, my stomach had probably expanded to ten times its original size.

"How are you finding your fourteenth birthday?" Bruce asked, "feeling old yet?"

"I don't feel any different than I did yesterday," I said simply. If anything had made me feel older, it had been this past week in its entirety. We had all changed some, each of us holding a sort of harrowed wisdom I had come to recognize on the faces of our mentors. It was the kind of age you could only accumulate by staring the apocalypse in the face and making it through to the other side.

Bruce's face grew graver as he seemed to realize what I meant, "birthdays can be that way."

Alfred cleared his throat, "Miss Williams, would you like your present from us now?"

I nodded, hoping to shake off the tension in the air, and Alfred darted back into the kitchen for a moment, returning with a rather large box that was mostly unwrapped, with the exception of some silk ribbon. Pulling that off, I lifted the lid to reveal an assortment of things. At the very top were a new pair of pointe shoes, the satin soft and gleaming. I pulled them out, marvelling at the make, "these are beautiful."

Bruce smiled, "keep going."

Underneath was a book, and I practically started vibrating in my seat. It was covered in soft, worn, navy blue cloth, and as I turned it to look at the spine, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE gleamed at me in gilt letters. My eyes flew to Bruce, "is this a first edition?"

He nodded, and I flung myself out of my chair first to hug him, and then to hug Alfred, heart flying to my throat. The Brit hugged me back, laughter in his voice as he spoke, "there are footnotes from Jane Austen's contemporaries in there too."

I squeezed him harder, voice coming out in a rush, " _thankyouthankyouthankyou_!"

He sounded amused, "there's one more thing."

Finally releasing him from my stranglehold and turning back to the box, I spotted a singular key, silver and gleaming. Fishing it out, I stared at it curiously, "what's this for?"

Bruce stood from the table, beckoning the rest of us to follow, "why don't you come and see?"

We started walking for the front door of the Manor, and I nudged Dick, "do you know what it is?"

"Can't say," he said, smirking that familiar smirk for the first time in the last week.

I narrowed my eyes at him, "curiosity killed the cat you know."

He laughed, pointing towards the door, "and satisfaction is going to bring you back in a minute now."

As we stepped outside, I laid eyes on the most beautiful motorcycle I had ever seen. It was pure matte black, and the body was light and compact. It was going to go fast, and it was going to look beautiful doing it. I didn't move, gaping at the machine before me.

Alfred spoke, light and teasing, "do you like it, Miss Williams?"

I practically ran down the steps, desperate to touch it. The handlebars were flat and the metal was light, wrapped in a comfortable yet powerful grip. I could barely breathe, "like it? I think I just died and ascended."

"I would like to note," Selina said, "that it's technically illegal for you to be driving that. And by technically I mean very illegal."

"I've had a motorcycle at home for like, forever," I said, "and I can get my learner's permit now, so."

"Said motorcycle was not given to you by me," she said, cutting eyes at Bruce, "and it was intended for superhero use only."

"Let her breathe a little, Selina," Bruce said, and smoke started to pour out of her ears.

"Let _her_ breathe a little? That's some talk coming from you — "

"While they fight, do you want your present from me now?" Dick said, leaning in to whisper conspiratorially.

I blinked at him, "you have another one?"

"Just come and see," he said, pulling me away from Bruce and Selina's argument and into the gardens towards the back of the Manor.

The air was cooler here, shaded by trees and hedges. The sun had set over an hour ago, and the only light in the gardens came from the moon and periodically placed lanterns. We headed towards the fountain, which provided both seating and perhaps the best lighting at night. The lantern light caught on the ribbons of water that fell from the fountain's top tier, making the waves of it glint and sparkle. The sweet, rich scent of night-blooming flowers drifted over on the breeze, the picturesqueness of the whole scene becoming a little ridiculous.

Dick finally stopped walking, pulling a small silk box from the pocket of his hoodie. My curiosity was piqued. Dick's presents were always ridiculously thoughtful, and both nice to have, and practical. It was pretty unusual for him to buy me jewelry. Handing the box off to me, I noted slight nervousness in his grin. Upon cracking the lid open with a soft click, I saw a stunning necklace set against a pillow.

My breath stilled in my chest as I drew it from the box, the silver of it catching in the dim lighting. It was minimalistic in style, just a small white diamond on a thin chain. My favourite kind of jewelry. I laid it back in the box for a moment, smiling at Dick, "it's beautiful. I love it."

His eyes were bright, "it's not just a necklace you know."

Eyes flicking back to it in surprise, I automatically shifted to hold it further away from me. Dick burst into laughter, and I glared up at him, "what is it then?"

He reached over to pick it up, prying back the cover to reveal the tiniest of buttons, "a truly beautiful piece of micro-engineering, that's what. It works kind of like a beacon. If you're ever in trouble, press the button."

I softened, blown away, "and then what?"

"There's a few levels of urgency. One press is kind of like 'I need some help over here', and it sends a distress signal to the Batcomputer. Two presses is more urgent, and Bruce, Selina, Alfred, and I, as well as any nearby team members receive a personal notification. Three presses gets sent to everyone from before plus the Cave computer and any nearby police stations, and it's more like 'if I don't get help in the next ten minutes I'm going to die'. Four presses is the 'I am actively dying' level and it sends all the same notifications as a level three, plus a distress signal to the Justice League computer, plus personal notifications to any League members in proximity, and a message to nearby hospitals. And the chain measures your breathing and heart rate, and if either of those go out of whack for longer than what could be considered normal, a level four alert gets sent out."

My breath stilled in my chest, "did you make it?"

He grew sheepish, "yeah. I had some ideas for it before, but after the training exercise I really got into it. It's also ridiculously resistant to pressure, corrosion, and has some great tensile strength. Oh, and it's waterproof."

Flinging my arms around him, I couldn't keep a few tears from escaping, "fuck the motorcycle, this is my favourite present."

"Glad you like it," he murmured into my hair, his smile pressing against the crown of my head.

Pulling back, I handed it to him and turned around, pulling my hair up from my neck, "here, I'm never taking this thing off, I swear."

"Well," he said, looping the chain around my neck, "I hope not. That would kind of defeat the purpose."

The gem settled perfectly in the dip of my collarbone, and I shivered at the blend of cold from the necklace and the heat of Dick's hands. His fingers almost lingered at the nape of my neck, and a twinge of an emotion I couldn't quite place echoed in my gut, fluttering up towards my chest. I wheeled back around in an attempt to get a grip, "thank you, Dick. I mean it, this is amazing."

His returning smile was rueful, "anything to keep you safe."

Biting my lip, I took a seat on the side of the fountain, "the training exercise really screwed with you, huh?"

He snorted, sitting down next to me, "that's the understatement of the century."

"I don't just mean trauma," I said slowly, forcibly thinking each word through, "I mean _you_." I tapped his chest, "who you are. What you believe."

"Well, yeah," he said, voice quiet, "I don't think anyone could go through something like that and not be a fundamentally different person. But it forced me to answer some questions. Hard ones, ones I've been avoiding."

"Like what?" I prodded.

"What it means to be a leader. What's necessary to be a _good_ leader. If I want to be one at all." He stared out at the gardens, hedges and flowers disappearing into shadow, "do the ends really justify the means? At what point is the result not worth the sacrifice?" Running his hands through his hair, he looked at me helplessly, "I don't like who I was when I was leading us in there. I don't like who I became. I had everything I've ever wanted — a place as the leader, respect, the ability to make the important decisions. And I sent Connor to the slaughter without so much as a second thought."

"You were between a rock and a hard place," I said, "what were you supposed to? Let Earth be destroyed and everyone in it be slaughtered?" Reaching out for his hand, I tugged at him to look at me, "you didn't force anyone to do anything. The only one who objected to Connor doing what he did was M'gann, and that's because she's in love with him. We all signed up to be there. We could have backed out at any time. You didn't know if anyone was going to be hurt. It's not like you were strapping people to a table against their will and conducting fatal experiments on them."

"But I didn't hesitate," he said. "Police officers who are forced to kill in the line of duty hesitate. Soldiers hesitate. Hell, _executioners_ hesitate. What does that say about me?"

"That you've had not hesitating drilled into you since you put on the suit. And, might I add, that this was a _simulation_. If some part of M'gann was aware enough to properly experience grief for Artemis and take everything over, don't you think that maybe some part of you was aware enough to subconsciously realize that the whole thing was fake? Especially as the most rational, logical one out of all of us?" I drew my thumb over the palm of his hand, staring down at the woven lines there, "you have so much empathy, Dick. You care, so, so much. And the fact that you're agonizing over this proves that you're not a bad person. You're a good person who was forced to make difficult, morally gray decisions."

"Morally gray," he said slowly, "there's a word for it."

"Two words, actually," I said, grinning a little. He shot me a glare, and I couldn't help the laughter that laced my voice, "look, I can't promise you that you'll never have to make decisions like that again. I can't promise that you'll never have to bear the burden of being the leader again, carry that weight. But I can promise you this: wherever you are, whoever you become, whether you never lead anything, or you take up Bruce's mantle, or you find your own ragtag group of orphans to order around while busting crime — you'll always have me. I will _always_ be there, helping you make those decisions, bear that burden."

His hand tightened around mine, his breathing loose and shaky, "Belle, when we were dying, what was it you said to me?"

I blinked, confusion sweeping over me, "when we were dying?"

"Across the mindlink. You said something, but I could barely hear it."

A dim memory washed over me, interwoven with fire, brimstone, and fear. The world ripping apart at the edges, a set of last words thrown across our fading psychic link. I dropped his gaze, feigning interest in his palm again, "it was a goodbye, I guess. 'Wherever we're going, I'll find you.' That's what I said."

The sudden weight of him knocked me backwards a little, his arms wrapping around me. My heartbeat quickened as he murmured against the crook of my neck, the skin there heating, "I love you."

My stomach exploded in warmth, something in my chest stirring. I lifted my head out from against his chest to rest on his shoulder, "I love you too."

God I was fucked.

* * *

 **GOTHAM**

 _ **October 26, 02:23 EDT**_

* * *

 _The ground was slick beneath my feet — too slick. I tumbled to my stomach, ice shavings hitting the back of my neck as something smashed into the ground behind me, tearing up the ice beneath it._

 _Artemis._

 _I flipped over, the glow of her blonde hair in the arctic sun all that mattered. Stretching out a hand to call for her, my head snapped to the left of its own accord, forced by an unseen hand. Some huge, amorphous black creature stood directly in front of my face. Its skin looked like an oil spill, constantly moving like it was made of liquid. It didn't have a face so much as a curved cavern that formed a mouth, making it look like it was always smiling. It opened said mouth, roaring in my face. Baby hairs flew back from my face, and the smell of its breath was hauntingly familiar. Gunpowder, hair burning, the stink of melting skin and fat._

 _It launched back from me, wheeling on Artemis. I wanted to scrabble to my feet, to fling myself at it, to protect her. But my limbs wouldn't move, and I stayed rooted to the spot as the creature drew closer to where she stood, bowstring pulled taut as she aimed an arrow at it._

 _It subsumed her. The skin of it expanded, washing over her and tugging her in. Her scream pierced my ears, echoing against the icy mountains surrounding. I screamed too, my throat growing raw almost immediately as genuine, primal fear took me._

 _The last thing I saw of her was her face, twisted in pain and horrified._

* * *

My eyes flew open, my breath coming in short, shallow pants. I had to resist the urge to throw up, the sound would wake Selina if I hadn't already.

She was concerned. She was always watching me, had piled more bacon and toast on my plate this morning when I had barely eaten anything. I had a feeling either Bruce or Dinah had told her to leave well alone, because she hadn't pushed me to tell her how I was feeling. But I hated to worry her, and I could tell she was. I could at least give her the peace of thinking I slept at night.

I rolled over, curling in on myself. My sheets stuck to my sweat-soaked skin, falling away to leave patches of goosebumps as I tugged my blankets closer to me. I focused on pushing the image of Artemis' dying face out of my mind. Instead, I tried to picture her happy, the few times I had seen her genuine smile. Sparkling eyes, mouth curved softly, the slightest hint of a dimple in her left cheek. Bright. Loved. Safe.

Sleep would not come easy.

* * *

 **MOUNT JUSTICE**

 _ **October 26, 17:05 EDT**_

* * *

Breathe. Kick. Step. Punch. Kick. Turn.

Breathe. Kick. Step. Punch. Kick. Turn.

Breathe. Kick. Step. Punch. Kick. Turn.

I went through the movement again and again, the poor plastic dummy I was using starting to bust apart at the seams. It hung limply from its pole, the interior padding bursting out in patches.

Breathe. Kick. Step. Punch. Kick. Turn.

Breathe. Kick. St —

A hand wrapped around my shoulder, "Arabella."

Suppressing the urge to flick the other person over my shoulder, I turned to find Artemis standing next to me. Her face from my dream last night, contorted in pain, eyes bulging out of the sockets, hit me harder than a transport truck. I reeled back a little, trying to maintain some sense of composure, "what's up?"

She stood firm, unshakeable, "an intervention."

"Intervention?"

"Look, the rest of us can tell you're not doing okay," she said. I opened my mouth to protest, but she raised a hand to silence me, "I know you want us to think you are, but you're not. I get it. You're the only person I've opened up to about this at all. But if I hadn't, I think I might've gone crazy. Like you're going crazy."

"I'm not going crazy," I managed to spit out, "I'm not exactly well-adjusted, but crazy is a strong word."

"Arabella, you've been training yourself tired _every single day_. Have you looked at yourself in a mirror recently? You have dark circles the size of the Empire State, I've never seen your hair so ratty, and you look like you've lost ten pounds since the exercise."

"Hey there Pot," I said, "my name's Kettle. How are you?"

"I was a total mess, yes," she said bluntly, "I'm still a mess. But I'm going to Dinah's stupid therapy sessions, I shower every day, I don't train until I can't. I'm trying."

"How do you know I'm not going to Dinah's sessions?"

"She and Oliver were talking about it last night. I was eavesdropping. And you sure don't look like someone who's been going to therapy." She rubbed her face, expression growing softer, "I just want you to talk to me, Ara. Like I talked to you. You… you're my _friend_. I want to help."

I took in her face. The care and concern. And I was _so_ tired. She was right. My days since the exercise were all a blurry mess, like someone had dragged their hand through the ink of them, leaving nothing but smudges.

Looking down, I focused on undoing my hand wrap. My voice came out small and shaky, "I had a nightmare about you last night."

She sat down on the training room floor, patting the space next to her, "tell me about it."

I did, detailing the creature's face, the fact its breath smelled like what the Mothership had before I died. The sight of her dying face. She barely spoke, letting me ramble almost incoherently. I kept going, telling her about all my other nightmares, what is was like to watch Dick and Wally _burn_ in front of me. The throwing up, how I had taken to not eating to keep from throwing up. The desperate need to train until I couldn't think of anything else. How I had gone to Dick's house to check on him, and how psychotic that made me feel.

When I was done, she cocked her head to the side, "can I ask you a personal question?"

Snorting, I gestured for her to continue, "isn't that what this is?"

Her stare made me feel like I was being X-rayed, "why are you so dependent on Robin?"

I blinked, "what do you mean?"

"Your entire life seems to revolve around him. And I know we tease you about liking him all the time, but past that. It's like he's the centre of your world. Why?"

The cold feeling of realization washed over me. My first instinct was to deny it, but Artemis had a _point_. Why did I spend so much time thinking about Dick? Sure, he was my best friend, but Artemis was working her way up to that status and she didn't occupy my mind half so much. "I — I don't know?" I said, stammering, "I guess it's because… Rob was the first person I let myself get close to. Even with Carla, even though I would've called her family, there was always a distance." Her gray eyes were warm, encouraging, so I kept rambling. "You know what it's like, you lived it. When you're in that headspace — just surviving — barely managing not to starve or freeze to death every single day, there isn't really as much room for loving someone."

"But that changed," Artemis said, stating more than asking.

I nodded, "I wanted to be closest with Selina, I figured I would be because she's my mom. But we're so different. And Robin and I, we _are_ different, he's so much more logical, calmer, whatever. But we had gone through so many of the same things. He made me feel… understood. Selina and Bats, they wanted to know what was going on with me, wanted me to open up so they could riddle me out. But Rob made me feel like he got what I was going through without needing to do that. Like he would just _be there_ , and if I wanted to open up he would listen. Like you make me feel. And I guess along the way, he just became synonymous with home, and safety, and eventually in a way, love."

"And do you think that maybe you're too dependent on him?" Artemis asked.

"Probably," I said, the recognition stinging. "I mean, when Zatanna was here I got my panties all in a twist, because for one, she's annoying. But in a way, I felt like she was inserting herself where I belonged. I guess I never realized how possessive I was."

"I think," Artemis said slowly, "that's kind of a side-effect of where you were when you met him. I get it. When you live that way, anything that's yours is _yours_ , and you'd fight tooth and nail to keep it because people are always going to want to take it. So he became yours in a way, and now you'd do anything not to lose him."

"What, so I didn't have people I loved, so as soon as I did I got possessive over them?"

"Yeah, and as soon as you feel like that person can be taken away from you, you freak out. Like when they die, or cute girls take their attention away."

"But Rob isn't something I can _possess_ ," I sputtered, "he's a person. What the hell?"

"I guess that's something that you need to think about," Artemis said, shrugging, "I'm still Team You Have an Unrealized Crush on Him."

The memory of my fluttering heartbeat last night hit me, and I looked up at her shyly, "about that, quick question, what does having a crush on someone feel like?"

Something in her eyes sharpened, curiosity glowing there, "well, what are your symptoms besides rampant jealousy?"

I held up my fingers, ticking them off, "flutteriness, quickening heart rate, shakiness in both voice and legs, unexpected and unexplained warmth in both my chest and stomach, etcetera."

"Do you, like, find him attractive?"

My eyebrows pinched together, "doesn't everyone?"

She exploded into laughter, falling backwards in a heap, "you've got it _bad_!"

Face heating, I swatted at her, "he's a good-looking guy!"

Her laughter was devolving into little giggles, "yeah, but not everyone finds him _attractive_ attractive. Like yes, he's an objectively cute kid. He'll look great in five years. But the idea of thinking about him in that way makes me feel gross."

I paused to think about it, my curiosity quickly eclipsed by dawning horror, "oh my god it doesn't make me feel gross."

"Exactly," she said, "it makes you feel all warm and squishy, maybe a little embarrassed. You like him."

Flopping back onto the floor, I let myself lay there groaning, "this is the worst thing that's ever happened to me."

"Okay, Miss Dramatic," Artemis said, flopping down right next to me, "at least you've stared it in the face. Now you can do something about it."

I knew she meant that about more than just my crush on Dick. Fuck. I had a crush on Dick. A sense of both duty and resignation settled over me, "well, clearly he doesn't like me that way. So. I'll drop the possessiveness shit, and hopefully we can all keep going with our lives as smoothly as possible."

She seemed to tighten in a way, and as she spoke I had a feeling she was asking for more than one reason, "so you're not going to fight for him?"

"No point fighting a battle you can't win," I said simply, the sting of it burrowing deep in my chest to set up shop for quite possibly the rest of my life, "and I love him more than anything. So I'd _do_ anything to make him happy, even if that means I'm miserable."

"You're more selfless than I am, then," she said, barking a laugh.

Choosing my words carefully, I spoke in a way that hopefully delivered some impact, "this is a special case. Earth orbits around the Sun. All actions have an equal and opposite reaction. I love Rob. He'll never like me that way. It has nothing to do with other situations, like ones where you've been told on multiple occasions by multiple people that you have a hell of a lot more than a fighting chance."

Her cheeks reddened, and she broke my gaze, "but he doesn't…"

Reaching out to grab her hand, I forced her to look back at me, "he's a fucking dumbass with tunnel vision. One of these days, he's going to realize what's up with M'gann, and he's going to look around and realize what's been there the whole time."

"Maybe Robin will be like that too," Artemis said softly.

I tugged her into a hug, the tip of my nose burning as tears threatened to make an appearance. She was hopeful for me. She had to be, in a way, due to the comparison she had drawn in her head between our situations.

But I knew better.

* * *

 **GOTHAM**

 _ **October 27, 01:06 EDT**_

* * *

 _Wind blew through the leaves of our magnolia, sending pinkish-white petals drifting through the air. They fell on Dick, Babs, and I like confetti. Babs was pulling out her phone, aiming the camera at me with a bright grin, "oh, they're all in your hair! You look so pretty, I'm taking a photo!"_

 _She brought her phone up over her face, blocking her features from my vision as I gave her my best smile. But instead of a shutter noise, a low hum emitted from the phone, and one of those unforgettable beams of light shot from the camera lens. Lowering the camera, I saw that her face wasn't_ hers _. It was that same oil spill, the inky blackness rippling across foreign features that didn't belong atop Barbara's shoulders. It roared, sending the scent of gunpowder and burning human bodies billowing across the otherwise magnolia-scented breeze._

 _That cavernous mouth curled up in something just enough like a grin to be unsettling, and the last thing I saw before I died were my own bones, my hands lit up from the inside out to show my skeleton._

* * *

I woke up screaming.

It didn't help that my guest room at the Manor was so dark, the lack of city lights outside my window making the room as dark as it had been when the ink-monster-slash-alien thing. Or the grave.

Slapping a hand over my mouth, I cursed myself for having made so much noise. Now someone like Bruce or Alfred was going to come barrelling in here, demanding to know what the hell was going on.

And I would have to _explain_.

Leaning back against the pillows, I prayed that they would leave well enough alone. Not least because I didn't have the words _to explain_. I wouldn't be able to lay my brain out in any kind of reasonable, logical manner. And I had a feeling deep in my gut that this was the sort of thing that defied logic, something that couldn't be rationalized no matter how long Bruce stared at me with his X-ray eyes, or Alfred interrogated me with his flawless Socratic arguments.

Nothing stirred in the hall. Maybe, just maybe, I hadn't been screaming for long. And they had been in deep sleep. They had heard it, roused slightly, deemed it unreal, and rolled back over.

Light poured into my room from the hall, Dick's face peering into the darkness, "Belle?"

Squinting against the light, my shaking hands fell to my blanket, "what is it?"

He turned sheepish, rubbing the back of his neck like he always did when he felt awkward, "I heard you screaming, you okay?"

I should've told him it was a bug or something. That I had seen a spider in the darkness and that he should go back to bed. Adhere to my new rules about being so damned reliant on him and shoulder on alone. Instead, I let tears well up in my eyes as I furiously shook my head, shoulders starting to shake.

He crossed the room in three long strides, grabbing my hand and tugging me out of the bed and towards the hall, towards his bedroom. As soon as we passed the threshold, his familiar sandalwood and cloves scent practically enveloped me. It emanated from everything in here, like he had stained every inch of the space.

Getting me settled on the foot of his bed, he dropped to his knees in front of me, his hands still wrapped around mine, "what's wrong?"

Everything burst out of me all at once, and I rambled for what had to be twenty minutes. I told him how the training exercise haunted me, how I worried even more about everyone collectively losing their minds. How I had devoted myself to taking care of everyone while I had refused to deal with everything that was wrong with _me_. I detailed every single nightmare I could remember, waiting for him to flinch as I described the sight of his face melting off. It never came.

Instead, when I had finished, he spoke quietly, "I get them too. The nightmares. Specifically this kind of reoccurring one where we're standing around in the Cave in that strategy meeting again, and suddenly I'm holding a knife and I order you to walk into it. And you just… do. You casually _gut_ yourself just because I told you to."

I tugged him up onto the bed with me, curling up against his headboard, "you would never."

He settled down too, his free hand coming up to support his head, "but wouldn't I? That's basically what I asked Connor to do."

"No. You asked to him to risk his life in the most important mission possible, and his life would've gone towards saving the world. It wasn't wasted."

Breathing out slowly, he offered me the tiniest of smiles, "you always know what to say."

I poked his nose, "it's because I know you, dummy."

"You really do, don't you _ya amar_?" he said, his teensy-tiny smile growing just a bit wider.

His new nickname for me, the Arabic foreign and untranslatable to me. I had, in quite possibly one of my most amazing feats of restraint, refrained from Googling it. But I was sleepy, and just generally exhausted, so my mouth spoke before I gave it permission, "what does that mean?"

Surprise stiffened him, "what, _ya amar_?" I nodded, and he swallowed before continuing, "literally, it translates to 'the moon', or 'my moon'. It's kind of a flowery thing to say though, because of the comparison. It's calling someone the light that lets you see at night." _The light that lets you see at night_. Damn him, the parts of my brain that I had just recently decided to thoroughly squash were going to have a freaking field day with that one. He cleared his throat, his voice stumbling a little over the French pronunciation, "what does _ma motié_ mean?"

Heat filled my cheeks, and I burrowed deeper into one of his pillows in an attempt to hide it from him. "It's…" I decided to phrase it as clinically as possible, "it's a term of endearment. It literally means, 'my half', but it's intended to be translated as 'my other half', or 'my better half'."

Smiling ruefully, he dropped my hand to push a curl off the side of my face. His fingers lingered, tracing the curve of the crescent-shaped scar on my temple, "honestly I think you'd be _my_ better half."

Oh my sweet lord I was going to die, right then and there. In a last-ditch attempt not to turn into a puddle of human goo, I managed to breathe some words out, "do you know how that idiom came about?"

His quiet laughter shook the mattress, "do pray tell."

"I read about it in one of those one-hundred-and-fifty facts you didn't know books when I was like, eight. And looking back, it was suspiciously sourced, so take this with a grain of salt. But apparently legend goes that in some tribe of unspecified ethnicity, some guy committed murder for unspecified reasons. At his trial, his wife threw herself at the feet of the judge and said that if they were going to kill him, they'd be punishing her too when she hadn't committed a crime, so it would be an unfair punishment. The judge agreed, and the man escaped the death penalty, all because of his 'better half'."

He was grinning full-on now, and the world was turning delightfully hazy at the edges as sleep pulled at me, "that sounds absolutely ridiculous."

"You're absolutely ridiculous," I mumbled, barely awake.

His fingers danced across my scar again, "go to sleep. I'll be here when you wake up."

The thought was absurdly comforting, my mouth curving into the softest of smiles as my body and brain finally gave out.

He would be okay. And so would I.

* * *

 **So it's been a hot minute. Honestly, I feel like I say that every time I update, so y'all probably expect this by now. I've been working a lot, my mental health hasn't been great, shit is going down, my life never really settles down. In better news, I should be able to buy a new laptop by the end of summer! The one I'm using right now is currently being held together by tape, so it'll be nice to be able to carry one around and write in more places than my bedroom!**

 **I'm actually pretty proud of this chapter. It's almost 12,000 words, I tried some new things; that series of vignettes with Arabella talking to everyone is supposed to evoke the same kind of feeling as a montage, so let me know how that felt to you guys. I feel like I learn a bunch about writing between each chapter, and I try to do something new every time I update. So while hilariously cringy to read the early chapters of this fic (new readers, please tell me how you do it, they're so _awful_ ,) it's nice to see how far I've come. Speaking of, I plan on dividing my writing time (which there will be more of nowadays) in two, so half of it is going to be spent on updating the old chapters and the other half on putting out new ones. I'm really excited for this story's trajectory now, Failsafe is kind of the crux of Arabella's first arc, and now the juicy stuff can get into full swing. I also may have sprinkled quite a bit of foreshadowing into this chapter, so haul out y'all's magnifying glasses. And Arabella turned fourteen! Fun facts, I put her birthday as October twenty-fifth partially out of plot convenience and partially because I have a MAJOR astrology obsession and you best believe that bitch is a Scorpio. **

**REVIEWS:**

 **HephaestusBuilds: Hoping I dove deep enough into the aftereffects! I have a lot of personal experience with trauma and PTSD, so attempting to do it justice was really important to me. Writing the nightmares was especially important, because even though having PTSD doesn't necessarily guarantee nightmares, the ones that result from it tend to be really trippy and terrifying. I totally agree that this episode is crucial for Robin's character arc, and I hope I did a good job of showing it. The kids are _literal_ infants, so there won't be any kind of overly sexual stuff when they're this young, as that's something I'm very much so _not_ comfortable with. I don't think Robin's crush on Zatanna is entirely based on looks, but there are other ways to avoid a love triangle than to knock Zatanna away as a love interest entirely ;) Season two chewed me up and spat me back out, and I have a total love-hate relationship with it. I plan on carrying the plot through season one, and then it's going to start deviating from canon. Will there be timeskips? Perchance. BATCAT IS MY OTP AND YOU BEST BELIEVE THEY ARE IN VIOLENT LOVE WITH EACH OTHER IN THIS FIC. No spoilers, but you'll be seeing more of them. Thank you for your long reviews! They're my favourite kind, and I love seeing specific readers come back to review. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

 **Aryanne: Thank you! That was what I was going for, haha. The angst train has arrived, hope you enjoyed it!**

 **Guest 2.0: I see you left this on chapter two. Chapter two sears my retinas, and it's the first chapter getting overhauled partially out of chronology and also because THAT DATE SCENE IS THE WORST THING OH MY GOD THIRTEEN/FOURTEEN YEAR-OLD SARAH WHAT WERE YOU THINKING. I started this story when I was in middle school (for reference, I'm going into my senior year in September and turning seventeen in October), so the first half of it is just all my cringy middle school fanfic come back to haunt me. Thank you for the compliment! I love seeing improvement in my writing, and it can only get better so that's what I strive for!**

 **KindOfDone: Hi! You probably won't see this, but just in case you come back, I'll answer you here. So a lot of the first half of this arc of the story was focused on establishing Dick and Arabella's relationship, as well as her dependence on him. It's a character flaw, and one that she's starting to recognize now thanks to Artemis being blunt as all hell (gotta love her). I guess this chapter came a little too late in terms of development on that front, and I'm sorry it frustrated you so much. I feel like I have shown scenes of Arabella without Dick (dancing, hanging out with the girls, etc.), and there'll be more of that now that she's had her moment of realization. I actually plan on introducing more new characters soon, but I like introducing OCs slowly so as not to water down what makes canon so amazing. I'm sorry you had such a bad time with this story, hopefully you find something you like more!**

 **Lorien Legacy: Thank you! Hopefully this didn't come too late!**

 **C.B Weasley: That is such an amazing compliment, thank you! I really wanted to get y'all inside Arabella's head, because obviously this whole thing would be ridiculously traumatizing, and I wanted everyone to experience that _with_ her. I hope you liked the little vignette between Arabella and Kaldur, their kind of sibling-esque dynamic is a lot like the one I have with my sister, so it's always fun to write them! I hope you liked this chapter, thank you for always reviewing, you make my day!**

 **rinpup14: Right? Failsafe has always been one of my favourite episodes, so writing it was a hell of a challenge. I cried at the keyboard!**

 **blackcharizard762: anyone who's curious, this is my brother (yes, the one who told me the first half of my story was awful and I needed to write him. Send him your thank yous for the rewrite of the prologue.)**

 **Briezy23: Thank you so much! That means so much honestly, I wish I could accurately depict how validated I feel right now.**

 **tjgrov157: That's really reassuring, actually. I write the first draft of all of my chapters pretty much line by line while watching the episodes, so as much of the original dialogue and action that can be preserved makes it into the story. My number one goal is represent these characters accurately, and I'm glad you think I've done that!**

 **And that looks like everyone! Sorry again for the wait guys. And thank you for always being so nice in y'all's reviews, there's nothing more disheartening than a negative one, so it's so lovely to have all these positive messages to point at and remind myself that there are people who like my writing, and all I can do is improve. I'm headed to bed, (it's almost 3:30 in the morning here,) but I love you all, and I'll see you next time!**


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